Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard P. Feynman tells episodes from his life in reminiscences edited from taped conversations with Ralph Leighton, his close friend and drumming partner. Many stories are lighthearted: cracking safes, learning languages, joining groups devoted to biology or philosophy, taking up art and playing samba. Others are serious, such as the Manhattan Project years, when tuberculosis killed his first wife, Arline, and his criticism of how science was taught in Brazil. One section recalls presenting his graduate work before an audience that included Albert Einstein, Wolfgang Pauli and John von Neumann. The final chapter, Cargo Cult Science, grew out of a 1974 commencement address at Caltech. Its surprise success led to a sequel drawn from Leighton's recordings.

James Clear includes it on his list of the best nonfiction books.