Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman: Adventures of a Curious Character

Author: Richard Phillips FeynmanBrand: Blackstone AudiobooksEdition: UnabridgedBinding: Audio CDFormat: AudiobookRelease Date: 01-10-2005Details: From Publishers Weekly History will remember Nobel Prize–winning physicist Feynman (1918–1988), for his work in quantum physics and his role in the investigation of the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle. Contemporary readers and listeners, however, will remember him best for his reputation as a free-thinking iconoclast whose personal adventures were hilarious, insightful and inspiring. Todd does a fabulous job of conveying Feynman's infectious enthusiasm and childlike sense of wonder with his energetic portrayal of the scientist. He's adept even in difficult sections, such as when Feynman "speaks Italian" and "Chinese"—inventing completely made-up but accurate sounding languages. Todd does a good job of portraying Feynman's inquisitive manner and conveys the book's message and attitude with aplomb. While he sounds nothing like the late physicist (Feynman— the subject of James Gleick's Genius—had a thick Long Island accent and sounded more like a cross between Yogi Bear and The Honeymooners' Ed Norton), Todd's clean, polite voice is a revelation. Based on the Norton paperback. (Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Product Description [Read by Raymond Todd] Winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1965, Richard Feynman was one of the world's greatest theoretical physicists, but he was also a man who fell, often jumped, into adventure. An artist, safecracker, practical joker and storyteller, Feynman's life was a series of combustoble combinations made possible by his unique mixture of high intelligence, unquenchable curiosity and eternal scepticism. Over a period of years, Feynman's conversations with his friend Ralph Leighton were first taped and then set down as they appear here, little changed from their spoken form, giving a wise, funny, passionate and totally honest self-portrait of one of the greatest men of our age. Review ''Proves once again that it is possible to laugh out loud and scratch your head at the same time.'' --New York Times Book Review ''Quintessential Feynman funny, brilliant, bawdy...enormously entertaining.'' --New Yorker ''A chain reaction is not a bad analogy for Feynman's life. From a critical mass of gray matter it goes off in all directions, producing both heat and light.'' --Time ''(Narrator) Raymond Todd gives an extraordinary performance bringing to evanescent life the amusing adventures of this Nobel prize-winning physicist…Refreshingly honest, iconoclastic, thought-provoking, this one-of-a-kind classic is a must for every collection.'' --Library Journal (audio review) ''Mr. Feynman's escapades are worthy of being read aloud…Raymond Todd seems to get as much pleasure out of the diversities of Feynman's career as the scientist did through living them.'' --AudioFile About the Author RICHARD FEYNMAN was, until his death in 1988, the most famous physicist in the world. Only an infinitesimal part of the general population could understand his mathematical physics, but his outgoing and sunny personality, his gift for exposition, his habit of playing the bongo drums, and his testimony to the Presidential Commission on the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster turned him into a celebrity. Richard Feynman died in 1988 after a long illness. Freeman Dyson, of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, called him 'the most original mind of his generation', while in its obituary The New York Times described him as 'arguably the most brilliant, iconoclastic and influential of the postwar generation of theoretical physicists'.EAN: 9780786177288Package Dimensions: 5.9 x 4.9 x 2.0 inchesLanguages: English