Genius: The Life and Science of
Richard Feynman by James Gleick
Memorable, Extremely Well Written.
If youve read any of Richard Feynmans wonderful autobiographies you
may think that a biography of Feynman would be a waste of your time.
Wrong! Gleicks 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.
Personal Review: Genius: The Life and Science of Richard
Feynman by James Gleick
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.
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