Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!; by Richard Phillips Feynman.

This is one of the few books written by the physicist - one of the most brilliant persons of our time - for everyone. It is not only readable, and enjoyable, it is even lovable, and a must for anyone who is even remotely interested in anything interesting.

When he was on the manhattan project he learned about locks and was able to pick most locks without much of tools, and in fact took out number locks easily. As a result they took action - not to make themselves safer, which was his intention in demonstrating his skill, but in passing a memo to the effect that he should not be allowed near anything locked!

Feynman had a brilliance that shone in whichever direction his conciousness turned, and this is manifest in this book in more than one way - that the book is brilliant would be an understatement, and that it was by a brilliant man equally so. He writes about all he did and tried to do, and one can see how well he did how much.

He is finally able after many years to write about what affected him deeply with hurt, the loss of his first love and first wife at a very young age. They married knowing she was dying shortly. It is a moving episode, and one sympathises with his silence about it, with his dealing with it till he came to terms with it emotionally.

One respects him for not jumping into another relationship with a hurry, a boomrang action most ordinary males not only take but are in fact actively encouraged to do so in almost every society. Feynman did not cheat on anyone who was even a one night stand, in that there was no pretense and no sleaze. With the radiant persona that was him, tht would have been out of the question.