such is a life worth living

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

by Feynman, Richard P., Ralph Leighton, Edward Hutchings and Albert R. Hibbs 

one got to feel envious for someone who has got it all. and Richard Feynman is one of those lucky human beings. a genius and a handsome one, too. here he talks about his life in a down-to-the-earth manner.  a life of fulfillment and triumphs in and out of his profession. a life full of intellectual joy, wild imagination and gratifying freedom and choices.

the rest are details - little stories of various importance but often amusing and enlightening. like how he taught himself to pick locks and cracked open safe after safe in - of all places - the Los Alamos National laboratory for nuclear research. his adventures in night clubs were infamous, one of which ended with his taking lone stand in the court to defend the local nude bar, another with him lecturing students with a bruised face at Cornell after a bathroom brawl the night before in Buffalo. a common theme underneath is that he made friends in all walks of life and left lasting impressions wherever he went and whatever he did.

he couldn't do no wrong. he didn't leave much to regret. then he died. at a relative young age of 70.

wow. if only everyone lived like that.