Genius

To his colleagues, Richard Feynman was not so much a genius as he was a full-blown magician: someone who “does things that nobody else could do and that seem completely unexpected.” The path he cleared for twentieth-century physics led from the making of the atomic bomb to a Nobel Prize-winning theory of quantum electrodynamics to his devastating exposé of the Challenger disaster. At the same time, the ebullient Feynman established a reputation as an eccentric showman, a master safe cracker and a bongo player, and a wizard or seduction.


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.

“The life story of one of the century’s most brilliant and unusual thinkers. . . superbly researched and well written.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“A monumental work, a lasting scientific biography. . . . A thorough and masterful portrait of one of the great minds of the century. . . Gleick succeeds in giving us a rare insight into the scientific community, its values, and its mentality.” —The New York Review of Books

“Not until now have we been given a full account of Feynman's extraordinary career and no less extraordinary personality. . . . [It is ] splendidly written, scrupulously documented. . . . Gleick. . . seems to have read every paper and personal letter and to have talked to everyone who ever knew Feynman. . . . A readable, accurate account of Feynman's great contributions to quantum mechanics.”—Martin Gardner, Raleigh News and Observer