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2nd out of 76 books
—
64 voters
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman
by
James Gleick
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.
Paperback, 531 pages
Published
November 2nd 1993
by Vintage
(first published September 29th 1992)
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I recently finished reading Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick. I’m a big fan of Gleick’s. His book on Isaac Newton was brilliant. And in this bio of Feynman, who was one of the midwives of the atomic bomb, Gleick illustrates just how important Feynman’s thinking has been to our modern understanding of physics, and therefore, of energy. Feynman grappled with the big questions about matter, science, and the quest for human knowledge and understanding. One of my favor...more
I learned about Feynman as a teen, when I happened across an interview with him on tv. His character and intellect fascinated me, and years later I decided to learn more about him.
Gleick covers Feynman's entire life in this biography. His prose is good, and he maintains a pleasing balance of anecdote and historical fact. Feynman had a large, vital personality, and Gleick is able to convey this without parroting the tone and content that Feynman uses in his autobiographical work. I've always been...more
Gleick covers Feynman's entire life in this biography. His prose is good, and he maintains a pleasing balance of anecdote and historical fact. Feynman had a large, vital personality, and Gleick is able to convey this without parroting the tone and content that Feynman uses in his autobiographical work. I've always been...more
Even though I enjoyed just about every page of this book, I know it will not appeal to everyone.
This the biography of a theoretical physicist who spent pretty much all of his adult life thinking about things that are ultimately close to incomprehensible to most of us. There is no way to appreciate the contributions Feynman made to advancing the understanding of the world where the laws of quantum behavior rule without some understanding of what those laws are and the path that physics took in u...more
This the biography of a theoretical physicist who spent pretty much all of his adult life thinking about things that are ultimately close to incomprehensible to most of us. There is no way to appreciate the contributions Feynman made to advancing the understanding of the world where the laws of quantum behavior rule without some understanding of what those laws are and the path that physics took in u...more
Normally I find biographies dull, especially those of well known people. However, my brother gave me this book so, of course, I read it.
The book follows Feyman from the earliest times in his quest to understand physics to late in life. I found his time working on the atomic bomb quite interesting. Also of interest was the way Feyman "just knew" mathematical things. I suspect geniuses, knowing one or two myself, can just "see"connections between things while the rest of us are still trying to fig...more
The book follows Feyman from the earliest times in his quest to understand physics to late in life. I found his time working on the atomic bomb quite interesting. Also of interest was the way Feyman "just knew" mathematical things. I suspect geniuses, knowing one or two myself, can just "see"connections between things while the rest of us are still trying to fig...more
My first introduction to Richard Feynman was his book What Do You Care What Other People Think? I enjoyed the quirky man who was always questioning and looking at things in a different way than other people but James Gleick took my understand of Feynman, his life, his brilliance, his viewpoints, and his contributions to science to a whole new level. The biography is a massive amount of information about Feynman but it also contains a great deal about the history and course of quantum physics thr...more
Gleick does a good job picturing Feynman, the person, and it's a good antidote to the somewhat disappointing "Surely You're Joking" Feynman's autobiography. Gleick shows a man deadly serious about his work, with little tolerance for group think, pomp and pretension. He pronounced potpourri "pot por eye" and didn't seem to care. Feynman's passion for life is better portrayed by Gleick than by Feynman in his autobiography. There are surprisingly many videos on the internet of Feynman giving lectur...more
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Mar 21, 2011
Brackman1066
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
feynman,
non-fiction
This was fascinating to read after I'd read most of Feynman's memoir / anecdotes and his published letters. It's not surprising that one learns things about him that he doesn't mention himself (for instance, his habit of sleeping with his colleague's wives). Nor was it much surprise that his essays are a dazzling act of self-creation--that's why I liked them. Still it was interesting to hear the views of Feynman of the other physicists, many of them famous, with whom he interacted. Feynman gave...more
Feynman the theoretical physicist. Feynman the bongo player. Feynman the lover mired in tragedy, the playboy, the insensitive geek. Feynman the man who never lost his childish, wide-eyed wonder of the world. Feynman the teacher. But above all, Feynman, the genius.
In Genius, James Gleick takes the reader through the life of the great Richard Feynman, from his humble beginnings in Far Rockaway, to his time working on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, and finally, his famous days at Caltech. Gle...more
In Genius, James Gleick takes the reader through the life of the great Richard Feynman, from his humble beginnings in Far Rockaway, to his time working on the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos, and finally, his famous days at Caltech. Gle...more
I've always found Gleick's prose and diction to be engaging just by itself. He could make a discussion about trees or frogs as lively and interesting as the world of scientists. Not that trees and frogs are boring by themselves, but you know what I mean.
Coming to this book, well .... the praise it has received is not unfounded at all. This is a brilliantly told story of a full-blown wizard who was so obsessed with understanding the physical world that he often did not even bother to publish, say...more
Coming to this book, well .... the praise it has received is not unfounded at all. This is a brilliantly told story of a full-blown wizard who was so obsessed with understanding the physical world that he often did not even bother to publish, say...more
Jun 12, 2008
Jeremy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone, but especially if you have interest in science or physics
A book that really re-awakened my inner science and math geek. In addition it introduced me to Feynman. I'm sure his name came up back in classes I took, but there is so much here that you'd never get from a one-liner in a textbook. A very interesting character.
By funny happenstance, I read this right before reading Cosmic Banditos by Weisbecker. Cosmic coincidence?
-Jeremy
By funny happenstance, I read this right before reading Cosmic Banditos by Weisbecker. Cosmic coincidence?
-Jeremy
I don't usually read biographies because i think that they're boring but i figured I'd take a stab at reading this book. For a biography this book was pretty engaging and when I finished I felt this relationship between Richard Feynman and I just because I got to know who he was. It was basically about Richard Feynman and his life growing up and how he was this naturally gifted person with the talent of intelligence. He took part in many major discoveries such as the Quantum Theory and won a Nob...more
Big disappointment. Coming off of American Prometheus, the fantastic biography of Robert Oppenheimer, and having read a book or two of Gleick's earlier stuff, I was surprised that I couldn't even finish the damned thing. Tossed it into my donation pile a hundred pages in.
This biography puts Feynman in a more balanced, neutral light for me. When reading his memoir(s) you only get a glimpse and rather slanted presentation if you are really wanting to learn about Richard Feynman.
This book is really heavy on his scientific endeavors, which shouldn't be surprising. Despite this the text is very readable and engaging, even for those less scientifically inclined.
In my review of Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman! I mentioned how much I thought I related to him. Well, if...more
This book is really heavy on his scientific endeavors, which shouldn't be surprising. Despite this the text is very readable and engaging, even for those less scientifically inclined.
In my review of Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman! I mentioned how much I thought I related to him. Well, if...more
Feynman is fascinating. Wonderful biography. Read it. The movie "Real Genius" is kind of an homage to Feynman. Kilmer's performance is Feynmanian!
It's refreshing to find a biography of a scientist that actually gets into some of the science. Gleick isn't afraid of losing his reader and discusses Feynman's work in math and physics at a level beyond the grade-school level.
As is so common in a well-written biography, "Genius" paints a portrait of the human within the legend of a great person. I had read Feynman's books, "Surely You're Joking" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think", and had assumed them to be autobiographical. While t...more
As is so common in a well-written biography, "Genius" paints a portrait of the human within the legend of a great person. I had read Feynman's books, "Surely You're Joking" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think", and had assumed them to be autobiographical. While t...more
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Wow, what an interesting book. Genius is the biography of Richard Feynman, maybe the most influential American physicist of the 20th century. Have you heard of him? I hadn't either. In many ways, the book is a biography of the science revolution and how it impacted modern warfare and politics in the 20th century. Even though he advanced modern particle physics to a point where almost no one can understand it, Feynman saw himself as a practical, blue collar American worker. He refused to affect a...more
I went into this book idolizing Feynman. But I finished it thinking that he was an asshole who got excused for his behavior by possessing high intelligence. I used to think that Feynman was a fun, eccentric, bongo-playing scientist who wooed women. Now I know that he was one of the original douchebag Pick Up artists and gave no regard for the feelings of others.
He also wasn't a very good scientist. This revelation, not expressly said in the book, was a bit upsetting to me. He was an awful scient...more
He also wasn't a very good scientist. This revelation, not expressly said in the book, was a bit upsetting to me. He was an awful scient...more
Accessible, informative and entertaining look at an interesting life.
The physics analogies never venture beyond the reach of the layman and advanced math is avoided completely, making this a biography that anyone can read and enjoy.
The personality of Feynman is fully developed, warts and all, which makes him much more human, even with his formidable, off-the-scale intelligence. His foibles and failings make him seem more like us than different from us, and that keeps us reading. Reading to lea...more
The physics analogies never venture beyond the reach of the layman and advanced math is avoided completely, making this a biography that anyone can read and enjoy.
The personality of Feynman is fully developed, warts and all, which makes him much more human, even with his formidable, off-the-scale intelligence. His foibles and failings make him seem more like us than different from us, and that keeps us reading. Reading to lea...more
Genius is up there with Gleick’s best work, Chaos and The Information, and clearly better than the disappointing Faster. There isn’t much new material here, and the Los Alamos days were only briefly covered. Feynman’s own writings, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think? , his Lectures on Physics, and his talk Los Alamos From Below (available on audio) give plenty of background.
The special thing Gleick gives is context. In particular, Feynman’s interact...more
The special thing Gleick gives is context. In particular, Feynman’s interact...more
To echo one of the reviewers below:
One of my favorite parts in this book is early on, and describes the question Feynman himself in order to try to quantify human knowledge--- "What if all scientific knowledge were lost in a cataclysm? What statement would convey the most knowledge in the fewest words to the next generations?" Feynman ended up answering with this: “All things are made of atoms – little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little d...more
One of my favorite parts in this book is early on, and describes the question Feynman himself in order to try to quantify human knowledge--- "What if all scientific knowledge were lost in a cataclysm? What statement would convey the most knowledge in the fewest words to the next generations?" Feynman ended up answering with this: “All things are made of atoms – little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little d...more
Aug 29, 2010
Joe
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Feynman-ophiles and everybody else
Shelves:
physics
If James Gleick wasn't already my favorite science author for his book "Chaos," he certainly is now.
Richard Feynman has always had a charm that just leaps out of his stories, but Gleick has composed an articulate and revealing account that makes Feynman more than just a few exaggerated anecdotes.
"Genius" reveals Feynman as a man of incredible determination and intellect faced with situations that, frankly, very few people can relate to. He worked on the Manhattan Project in his early twenties...more
Richard Feynman has always had a charm that just leaps out of his stories, but Gleick has composed an articulate and revealing account that makes Feynman more than just a few exaggerated anecdotes.
"Genius" reveals Feynman as a man of incredible determination and intellect faced with situations that, frankly, very few people can relate to. He worked on the Manhattan Project in his early twenties...more
Feynman was truly one of a kind. This biography was really a great exploration of a really fascinating character and a brilliant mind. I found his genius both inspiring and discouraging. He'd probably let Gleick know how much he didn't appreciate the title of the book.
The end felt a bit rushed and at times I wish more space was dedicated to his personal life. I suppose that's what Feynman's anecdote collections are for. I'm not a brilliant physics mind so while the science was fascinating, it wa...more
The end felt a bit rushed and at times I wish more space was dedicated to his personal life. I suppose that's what Feynman's anecdote collections are for. I'm not a brilliant physics mind so while the science was fascinating, it wa...more
I really enjoyed this book. Since I'm not very well-versed in science, I've found that biographies of famous scientists are easier for me to digest, and I do pick up some tidbits of scientific information. Feynman really was quite a genius and a wild character as well. If I could ever understand his proposition that not only can an electron be in two places at the same time, but that the electron can actually travel backwards in time, I'd be a genius too.
This biography was added to my reading list following my enjoyment of Gleick's biography of Isaac Newton. This one provided a satisfying overview of Richard Feynman, the physicist and the man. It also supplemented well a television documentary I had seen about his later life. There were also some intriguing insights into the development of the atomic bomb and the Manhattan Project's impact on the scientific world.
One of the few biographys I have thought were utterly brilliant. This one is - a well rounded account of the man, in all his familings, and his life within modern physics. Highly reccomended as an account of the exciting adventure of discovering a new physical law, as Feynman did, along with some other higly different kinds of people, such as Freeman Dyson.
This book is half personal bio of Feynman, half pure physics primer - maybe even more than half. There's a bit too much dense scientific discussion to make it a casual read, but it does provide a useful overview of nearly all the major scientific breakthroughs from Einstein's relativity to nanotechnology. And it sheds some light on a very quirky genius.
This book focused heavily on the science. Having read Feynman's "Surely You're Joking" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?", I was expecting more of a focus on his antics & personality than on his scientific person/legacy.
It is an interesting & enjoyable read. However, one should be warned that there is a good amount of physics talk - at least from my perspective as a non-physicist.
It is an interesting & enjoyable read. However, one should be warned that there is a good amount of physics talk - at least from my perspective as a non-physicist.
I picked this book up from a book swap bookcase at my work and it took me a while to get around to reading it. I found it to be a fascinating insight into the life story of a charismatic, eccentric and gob-smackingly intelligent man. The author kept me interested throughout and I was quite emotional towards the end.
An excellent biography of one of the twentieth century's greatest theoretical physicists. His passion for science was one of the inspirations behind my own choice to pursue scientific research. Everyone is impressed by genius, and Dr. Feynman had a genius for physics (and a good sense of humor) in abundance.
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James Gleick (born August 1, 1954) is an American author, journalist, and biographer, whose books explore the cultural ramifications of science and technology. Three of these books have been Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalists, and they have been translated into more than twenty languages.
Born in New York City, USA, Gleick attended Harvard College, graduating in 1976 with a degree in...more
More about James Gleick...
Born in New York City, USA, Gleick attended Harvard College, graduating in 1976 with a degree in...more
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