Richard Feynman won a Nobel Prize in physics. But that's not what makes "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" worth reading.
The book is a collection of stories about a man who couldn't stop asking questions. From tinkering with radios as a kid to cracking safes at Los Alamos, Feynman treated life like one big experiment. His secret wasn't genius... it was curiosity.
Most of us lose that somewhere along the way. We accept what we're told. We stay in our lanes. We forget that learning can be fun.
Feynman never forgot.
Three Ways to Think Like Feynman
Question What You Accept
Feynman didn't take anything at face value. When someone explained something, he'd push back. "Why?" "How do you know?" "Show me the evidence."
You can do this too. Pick one thing you believe and ask yourself why. Trace it back. See if it holds up. Most assumptions crumble under light pressure.
Learn Things That Don't Matter
Feynman learned to draw. He played bongo drums in a ballet. He studied Mayan hieroglyphics. None of it helped his physics career directly.
But it helped him think. Different skills create different mental models. They connect in ways you can't predict. The physicist who draws sees patterns the specialist misses.
Pick up something random. Learn it badly. Enjoy it anyway.
Stop Chasing Outcomes
Feynman's stories are funny because he didn't take himself seriously. He learned things because they interested him, not because they'd look good on a resume.
That's the mistake most people make. They turn learning into a checklist. Grades. Certificates. LinkedIn updates. All output, no joy.
Feynman drew because drawing was interesting. He didn't care if he was good. The process was the point.
When you learn something new, forget about being good at it. Forget about using it later. Just pay attention to what happens when you don't know something and then you do. That shift... that's the whole game.
The Shift
Treating learning like an adventure instead of an assignment changes everything. You stop avoiding mistakes. You start following threads that go nowhere. You ask dumb questions.
And somewhere in that mess, you find things that matter.
Feynman spent his life doing this. You can start today.
Curiosity isn't about being smart; it's about staying interested. Feynman showed that questioning assumptions, exploring diverse interests, and enjoying the learning process itself leads to both breakthrough discoveries and a richer life. The mistake is treating learning as a chore focused on outputs; the better approach is viewing it as an adventure where the process matters more than the result.
Take 10 minutes today to learn something random:
Pick a topic you know nothing about Find one article or video on it Write down what catches your attention Tell someone what you learned Notice if it connects to anything you already know
Don't worry about mastering it. Just see what happens when you pay attention to something new.
What's one assumption you've been accepting without questioning?
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