If you follow my blog, you know very well that I read a lot. And whenever I finish a book I feel my readers and those in /r/faimprovement would enjoy, I tell you about it. Now is one of those times.

You may have seen on the front page of Reddit today, a video by Professor Richard Feynman talking enthusiastically about rubber bands. By sheer coincidence, I just finished one of his exceptional books five minutes ago. The book is called Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman. And here is the Kindle version.

The amazing Amazon reviews and NY Times Best Seller should speak for itself, but let me tell you why this book is especially helpful to Forever Alones.

The book is a collection of memoirs by theoretical physicist and professor Richard Feynman. He starts off as a brilliant young boy, super curious about the world around him. His intellect is unmatched by his peers as he conducted his own experiments as a child, teaching himself about the world around him.

As brilliant as he was, he has absolutely 0 social skills. Many of his stories are hilarious and as a Forever Alone, you can relate to them. A super smart guy who can’t seem to have any luck with girls. He is quite open about it. I found myself laughing many times in the “oh shit — I’ve been there” type of feeling. However, as he grows and matures throughout early adulthood and through college, he meets a ton of people and he becomes better and better in social situations. He learns how to interact with women and becomes quite a ladies’ man.

Besides all of that, I think the best message to take away from his adventures is the idea of being curious and the absolute need to solve new and interesting puzzles. As a result, he gains not just social experience, but life experience. Forever Alones who complain that nothing interests them simply haven’t tried anything. Just off the top of my head from what I can recall, Feyman learned how to pick locks, fix radios, flew to Brazil and joined a samba band, became a pseudo biologist, learned how to speak Portuguese and Japanese, learned how to play the drums, and became a legitimate artist. Why? Because he felt like it. Because he was a curious person and because it was something he hadn’t ever done before.

Oh, and this is all besides the fact that he was a renowned theoretical physicist who worked at Los Alamos and won the Nobel Prize for his work in quantum stuff.

He also talks about adopting a philosophy on life he called “social irresponsibility” — the way he describes it, it’s almost like his own form of giving 0 fucks about what others think about him. In fact, he has a sequel to this book called What do you care what other people think? which was also a best seller.

Seriously, the book is full of life lessons and advice. About all the kinds of people you encounter along the way and how he learned how to handle them. It’s a must-read for all Forever Alones as far as I’m concerned.

Cheers.