I just finished a re-reading of Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?, both books childhood favourites of mine (the first more than the second, actually).
I wanted to ask this question (no offence, but it seemed something worth asking after the second reading of these books at the age of 42): Does anyone else think Feynman was making things up most of the time, and that his life was perhaps a lot less colourful in reality?
Do note that this is in no way a reflection of his prowess as a scientist, of which I have nothing to say (since his higher science is out of the reach of someone like me, but his popular science is mind-bogglingly beautiful and I must admit, I cannot imagine anyone except him talking of those things).
I get this feeling many-a-times when reading autobiographies, that either they lived in a time when it was possible to do so many things or get into so many interesting situations or be part of so many famous incidents, or that they were geniuses, or plain lucky, or perhaps lying, or (in all probability) a combination of all of these, with the proportion of some component more than others.
Later edit: Subsequent enquiries with people who knew Prof.Feynman in person, and corroboration from other accounts by people close to him have revealed that he was indeed an amazing man who lived a brilliant life. So, this question has been answered as far as Prof Feynman is concerned. But we can dwell on the other aspects of it, methinks.
