Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

I recently finished this book (should have read it long back!) and I must say, what a great read about a great and a curious mind!

Two things stood out for me:

1. How Richard Feynman was able to get into a new field and master it. He chronicles his journey of learning Portuguese (he ends up giving a technical talk entirely in Portuguese in Brazil), playing frigideira (he plays it in the Carnaval in Brazil), and learning painting (he was able to make several portraits and sell some paintings).

2. When he were to understand a new concept as a form of lecture, he would first ask for an example, and at the very beginning ask various questions. As he went along, he would keep working out the details of the problem against the example he got. This allowed him to understand the problem better when it starts to get complicated.

If you have not heard about the Feynman technique, check it out!