Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynma
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. 第一周阅读笔记 By Michael
As I was reading this book, it’s rather hard for me not to remind of my old times. To be honest with you, I’m a 100% handful that probably you could’ve never imagined. So when I was reading this —
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. 第一周阅读笔记 By Michael
“One day I was playing with the Ford coil, punching holes in paper with the sparks, and the paper caught on fire. Soon I couldn’t hold it any more because it was burning near my fingers, so I dropped it in a metal wastebasket which had a lot of newspapers in it. Newspapers burn fast, you know, and the flame looked pretty big inside the room. I shut the door so my mother—who was playing bridge with some friends in the living room—wouldn’t find out there was a fire in my room, took a magazine that was lying nearby, and put it over the wastebasket to smother the fire.”摘录
The very first image jumped into my mind was that a mischievous boy lit up a paper and threw it in a cabinet which is underneath a TV set, hoping the paper would extinguish by itself. Luckily it did.
That’s me, your boy Michael. lol…
So in the process of reading this book, I feel deeply indulged into the emotions that Mr. Feynman had for himself, no matter good or bad.
#1. Sticking to it.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. 第一周阅读笔记 By Michael
“ I’d have blown my top, because I want to beat this damn thing, as long as I’ve gone this far. I can’t just leave it after I’ve found out so much about it. I have to keep going to find out ultimately what is the matter with it in the end.” 摘录
That’s a quite straightforward idea which we all shared, but we never actually stick to it. As a normal individual, we are all facing dilemmas now and then, the idea of getting over these is not simply crossing fingers and hoping everything will just be fine, instead, the right move is taking a step forward and sticking to it. No kidding.
That’s how success lies.
#2. Enjoying the puzzle.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. 第一周阅读笔记 By Michael
“ the whole problem of discovering what was the matter, and figuring out what you have to do to fix it—that was interesting to me, like a puzzle.” 摘录
Actually, I am not a result-oriented person, which I would label myself a problem maker and problem solver. Interesting right? Quite opposite.
Let’s explain this. Have you ever thought about why we need to win, or getting a first place? And have you ever imagined how delightful you are when you’re into the stuff. As I was saying, the most amused thing for me is solving the puzzle, no matter how fast or slow. It’s sort of changing your point of view as you looking at the same thing. Just like, The glass is half full or half empty. What do you think?
#3. Making a quick move.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. 第一周阅读笔记 By Michael
“Inspired by the Leonardo book, I made this gadget which consisted of a system of strings and weights—Coke bottles full of water—that would operate when I’d open the door, lighting the pull-chain light inside. You open the door, and things would go, and light the light; then you close the door behind you, and the light would go out. But my real accomplishment came later.” 摘录
The world doesn’t need a dreamer, but a doer. Mediocrity is a thing that most people hate, meanwhile, it is where most people live as well. From my humble point of view, people already have access to open a door which links to another brand-new world, standing in front the door and holding the key. What kinds of things that block them away? I guess “The fear”. The fear of opening the door, the fear of fitting into new surroundings, and fear of better self. I’ve seen so many people who made a fortune overnight, and I have also seen opportunities to be grabbed. The people I am talking about actually are not born with money and conditions, they are just like us, the normal people who are willing to work their ass off. So in short, The move depends on you, whether you are willing to take a quick move or staying at your comfort zone.
#4. Learning for fun.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. 第一周阅读笔记 By Michael
“It was very, very interesting! I felt as if I was in a foreign country and couldn’t speak the language: I could speak, but nobody could hear me. Everybody was talking with signs to everybody else, and I couldn’t understand anything! I asked my girl to teach me some signs and I learned a few, like you learn a foreign language, just for fun.” 摘录
Well, I’m not going to talk something big, instead, I want to talk about the story of mine.
As a spoken English lover, I’ve never thought about myself tortured by English. Believe it or not, Practicing English is one of my habits and I just couldn't get it off. Being in love with English makes me fulfilled. The purpose of learning oral English is not showing off in a game, or earning extra money(Sometimes it does), but enrich my college life by reading English books and watching YouTube videos. I’d like to exposed myself in English, like lying underneath the sunshine, by the sea. There is not much I could tell during the journey of learning English alone, but one little thing I discovered is that mastering a new language is not about how many knowledge you acquired, but how much fun you explored, If not more so.
#5. Understanding, not rote.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. 第一周阅读笔记 By Michael
“I don’t know what’s the matter with people: they don’t learn by understanding; they learn by some other way—by rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!” 摘录
It perfectly explained what I’m going tell you. Perfectly!
Do not be a machine.
Be human!
#6. The strength of sloth.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. 第一周阅读笔记 By Michael
“This “stream of consciousness” reminded me of a problem my father had given to me many years before. He said, “Suppose some Martians were to come down to earth, and Martians never slept, but instead were perpetually active. Suppose they didn’t have this crazy phenomenon that we have, called sleep. So they ask you the question: ‘How does it feel to go to sleep? What happens when you go to sleep? Do your thoughts suddenly stop, or do they move less aanndd lleeessss rraaaaapppppiidddddllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? How does the mind actually turn off?”
I got interested. Now I had to answer this question: How does the stream of consciousness end, when you go to sleep?
So every afternoon for the next four weeks I would work on my theme, I would pull down the shades in my room, turn off the lights, and go to sleep. And I’d watch what happened, when I went to sleep.
Then at night, I’d go to sleep again, so I had two times each day when I could make observations—it was very good!” 摘录
Well, I laughed out loud as I read this paragraph. Mr. Feynman shows us how to be smartly lazy, which inspired me a lot by telling me is okay to be lazy when you don’t want to deal with something you hardly like.
Be smart by using the power of sloth. As far as I know, the world best invention comes out of laziness. I totally agree with that, the most rapid way of improving people’s efficiency is being smartly lazy, and then the idea comes out.
#7. Jumping out of your comfort zone.
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. 第一周阅读笔记 By Michael
“So MIT was good, but Slater was right to warn me to go to another school for my graduate work. And I often advise my students the same way. Learn what the rest of the world is like. The variety is worthwhile.” 摘录
People are strange. The more we enjoy, the harder we get out.
It’s easy to understand, the more we enjoy means the more we care, the more we care means the more we’re afraid to lose. I keep warning myself that never keep my eyes off the world. The world is changeable and fragile, you’ll never know either danger or chance come to us first. The only thing you could do is be fully prepared for everything you could possibly encounter tomorrow.
There is no such thing that beats you down for good, except yourself.
by Michael.
Dec,22th,2018.
