Perspective

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" is a book with almost no plot, in which the forty chapters are each almost entirely self-contained. The only thing that is one hundred percent consistent throughout the book is its point of view—it is told in first person. The voice the reader hears is that of a single, actual person, relating his life experiences and observations. However, the book credits other contributing authors (most notably Ralph Leighton). Therefore, although the ideas, and experiences (as well as most of the words) are almost certainly Feynman's, the process of taking his words and ideas, organizing them into a coherent (if unconventional) whole, and producing them in the form of a book, was undoubtedly the fruit of several people's labors.

However many contributors may be working on this narrative, the primary purpose is to present Feynman's point of view. The book is not...