Genius The Life And Science Of Richard Feynman Deals on James Gleick

Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

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Editorial Reviews

From the author of the national bestseller Chaos comes an outstanding biography of one of the most dazzling and flamboyant scientists of the 20th century that "not only paints a highly attractive portrait of Feynman but also . . . makes for a stimulating adventure in the annals of science" (The New York Times). 16 pages of photos.

If you've read any of Richard Feynman's wonderful autobiographies you may think that a biography of Feynman would be a waste of your time. Wrong! Gleick's Genius is a masterpiece of scientific biography--and an inspiration to anyone in pursuit of their own fulfillment as a person of genius. Deservedly nominated for a National Book Award, underservedly passed over by the committee in the face of tough competition, and very deservedly a book that you must read.

Customer Reviews

An engrossing story about a brilliant boy who never quite grew up

Reviewed by Irfan A. Alvi, 2009-10-24

To my mind, this book certainly establishes James Gleick as a master of scientific biography. He weaves in all the elements we could hope for: biographic details on Feynman which give a coherent sense of the man and his life, insights into other famous people he interacted with (Gell-Mann, Oppenheimer, etc.), and plenty of substantive information on the ideas and development of 20th-century physics. And Gleick presents all of this through a buttery-smooth narrative which enabled me to glide along almost effortlessly, making this long book go by fairly quickly. I certainly recommend this book to anyone interested in Feynman or 20th-century physics, or who just enjoys reading a well-written biography of an interesting person.

Now let me offer a few personal thoughts on my impression of Feynman. From a technical standpoint, he had a formidably deep feel for mathematics going far beyond just manipulating symbols, and he had a similarly strong intuitive grasp of physical behavior, apparently related to a burning curiosity to understand how the physical world works. He combined this theoretical and intuitive power with a relentless creative drive, which resulted in development of quite original and useful mathematical and mechanistic models (eg, Feynman diagrams). Moreover, his creativity was linked to an individualistic and sometimes iconoclastic need to do things his own way, so he tended to avoid studying the work of others, didn't really collaborate much with colleages, and even periodically reorganized established knowledge in his own way (hence the Feynman lectures on physics).

But Feynman's curiosity was a bounded curiosity, as he seemed to have little interest in much beyond physics. This made him something of an uncultured philistine, with a resulting overall immaturity and (dare I say it) shallowness. We see this in Feynman's somewhat self-indulgent personality, as evidenced by a kind of defiant roughness and rudeness, episodes of selfishness, and considerable womanizing, sometimes with wives of colleagues (perhaps he was just never able to recover from the tragic loss of his first wife?).

In the end, I think Feynman was shaped as much by his limitations as his strengths. His unique combination of curiosity, technical ability, individualism, creativity, and passion gave him unique potential, and his limitations focused that potential in a productive direction. He seems to have been reasonably happy overall in his life, and he certainly helped make the world a more interesting place, so perhaps it was all for the best.

A Good Account

Reviewed by J. Scott Shipman, 2009-09-09

Mr. Gleick's 1992 biography of Richard Feynman is an informative and enlightening journey through not just the life of the subject, but through the exciting world of physics from the early 20th century through the 1980's. While the first 100 pages were a tough read, the remainder was a reward; Feynman's brilliance and brutal honesty are on full display. Mr. Gleick does a nice job also of providing ample background on Feynman's colleagues/competitors/mentors, etc. and provides pretty clear explanations of the concepts brought to life by Feynman & Co. As a biography, this work is first-rate and highly recommended.

Well written review of Feynman's life and physics

Reviewed by Solomon, 2009-03-15

As the subtitle of this book states "The Life and Science of Richard Feynman", this book is about both aspects of his life. This is not the book if all you are interested in are the funny stories that Feynman told about his life. Some of these are mentioned, but they are not the focus of the book. If all you want are the funny stories, then stick to "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman" and its sequel "What Do You Care What Other People Think". Gleick provides much more. This book covers his whole life, from his early life in Far Rockaway New York to his death 69 years later in California. His schooling and his unique approach to scientific problems are detailed. Gleick shows how some common approaches pervade Feynman's approach to physics and how they enabled him to solve the problem of Quantum Electro-Dynamics. Along the way are capsule portraits of many of the scientists who interacted with Feynman (such as Hans Bethe, Freeman Dyson, Julian Schwinger and Murray Gell-Mann). Gleick also tells about Feynman's contribution to the development of the atomic bomb. Feynman's anecdotes make it seem that he was the court jester of the project, more interested in jokes and breaking into his collogues' safes. In reality, he impacted most of the theoretical aspects of the program. He was the youngest group leader and, among other responsibilities, was responsible for setting up the mechanisms to perform many of the required calculations as well as determining the approaches to be used for these calculations. He worked incredibly hard at not only his assigned tasks but also doing whatever was required (such as repairing mechanical adding machines) to get the job done. Gleick shows why Feynman was one of the greatest physicists of the second half of the 20th century and perhaps of all time. He also shows why he was the subject of such adulation, far more than equally important physicists such as Julian Schwinger (who won the Nobel Prize with him).

I must admit that I postponed reading this book because I was not overly fond of the two books written by Cleick that I had read previously ("Chaos" and "Isaac Newton"). I did not get a feeling for the science of chaos from the book of that name and when I finished Isaac Newton I did not feel that I knew very much the man, other than the merest facts concerning his life. I was glad that I overcame my initial reservations and read "Genius". I found that, unlike the presentation in "Chaos", I did get a feeling for Feynman's physics and of the problems that he worked on. I also found that, unlike the presentation in "Isaac Newton", I got a feeling for Feynman the man and well as Feynman the physicist.

Gleick presents Feynman "warts and all". He shows him to be a womanizer, a seducer of other men's wives as well as bar girls. He shows him to be a man who neglected the mundane aspects of academia, such as: proposal writing, participating in university administration, grading exams and submitting course grades, taking on graduate students, and writing student recommendations. He forced others to do the work that he chose to skip. Had he been anyone but Feynman he would likely have been fired; but being Feynman he was given special dispensation to avoid doing these chores, a dispensation that he took full advantage of. Cleick provides explanations for Feynman's behavior, but does not try to psychoanalyze him. (I actually would have liked a little psychoanalysis; after all, he spent years going over Feynman's papers and talking to his friends, so some psychoanalysis would have been appreciated and appropriate.) As it is Gleick does provide many clues (such as the tragic death of his first wife), but leaves the analysis to the reader.

This is a great book for anyone interested in Richard Feynman (the man and the scientist), science, the history of science, and the background of modern physics. It does not give you enough information to solve problems, or to fully understand them, but the book does give you a feel for these problems and Feynman's approach to them. As previously stated, this is not the book for you if all you want are funny Feynman anecdotes.

An original mind

Reviewed by avarma, 2008-10-11

Adopting a definition of the word 'genius' as a 'truly original thinker', Gleick shows throughtout this entertaining book - how Feynman meets this definition. From his work on the Manhattan project to his investigation of the Challenger disaster, Feynman continues to approach problems from 'scratch' so to say. Feynman did not believe in reading his peer's papers - he believed in looking at the abstract and trying to figure out the contents on his own! He believed in solving every KNOWN problem first - before dealing with unknown tough problems. There are several insights into his 'problem-solving' approach - which may have seemed madness to some - but Gleick goes on to show how there was method to his madness - and how his peers were more than aware of his brilliance.
There are several great anecdotes - from Feynman's time at Princeton, Caltech, Cornell and Los Alamos.

Memorable, extremely well written.

Reviewed by Sylvia Wadlington, 2008-07-20

Genius by James Gleick is a worthwhile read even if you don't have a clue who Richard Feynman was. This is one of those wonderful biographies that leaves you feeling you actually know the man and not just the image concocted by historians and public relations spin doctors.
Gleick does a really great job of showing Feynman growing up in pre world war II America and the beginning has an almost Tom Sawyer-like feel. Neither geek nor wannabe, not overly impressed by himself or anyone else, Feynman moves though childhood to become not only a brilliant mathematician, but a scientist who liked to play the bongo drums and also helped invent the Atomic bomb.
The tale becomes tragically beautiful as the almost gothic love story of his first marriage unfolds and twists through his work at Los Alamos and the first atomic bomb. Week after week a young Feynman hitchhikes alone across the country to visit his wife in the sanitarium and week after week the bomb comes closer to becoming a reality.
The story continues winding through the brilliant maze of Feynman's career with detail and clarity. Gleick's story is more about the man than his work so don't expect to understand Feynman diagrams when you're finished reading it, but you will be entertained.