Most often when we say that we "laughed" at this book or this movie, we mean it figuratively: we found it funny, we smiled, and so on.<br><br>Not this book. This is the first time in a long while that a book has made me chuckle, snort, and laugh loudly enough for my family to ask what's going on. It's not a humor book, but it is a funny book. Feynman guides the reader through what he probably felt were the most interesting parts of his life, but rather than doing so in a set memoir format ("my greatest influence as a child was so-and-so") he does it by telling stories. It works wonderfully. His stories, of fixing radios as a kid during the Great Depression, picking the locks of colleagues while working at the Manhattan Project, picking girls up in a bar at New Mexico, are little bits of life told as it was really lived, not as it was remembered. The tone of the book is honest, unpretentious and decidedly cheeky.<br><br>And for the same reasons, it has a lot to teach. Feynman doesn't pretend to be an expert on dating, but you'll find dating tips here, as he learned and applied them (often to unexpected, hilarious effect). He doesn't pretend to be an expert on philosophy, but you'll learn about his outlook on life and how you deal with being part of the project that created the most terrifying weapon on Earth. Feynman doesn't tell you about life as it ought to be, he tells you about life as it is- or was it was for him, at any rate. It's a rewarding read.