Author: James Gleick
Genre: Non fiction, biography, popular science
As the title suggests, it’s a biography
of Richard Feynman, a theoretical physicist; as well as the journey and revamp
that physics went through at around the same time. It’s unlike any of the
previous biographical works that I have read, in the sense that it focuses more
on the scientific work of Feynman rather than his personal life. Nevertheless,
I enjoyed it thoroughly. It stands quite in contrast to ‘Surely you’re joking,
Mr. Feynman!’ which has very little mention of scientific work. This book
focuses on his serious side and his life as a scientist.
The book is divided into
different parts based on the places he stayed longest in. For example, the
first chapter, titled ‘Far Rockway’ is about his childhood. The same chapter
also introduces the concurrent state of physics. This theme continues
throughout the book, where in addition to Feynman’s own life and his scientific
ideas, the works of others are discussed alongside each other. This gives the
reader an idea of the relevance of Feynman’s own work in the light of other
discoveries happening simultaneously. In the course of explaining the concomitant
ideas, the book also gives us a glimpse of the work of other physicists such as
Oppenheimer, Dirac, Bethe, Schwinger, Dyson, Gel-Mann etc.
The book nonetheless gives you
some inkling of how Feynman was as a person and his views about science in
general. One realises that he was some was someone who extremely passionate
about science with an uncompromising approach in solving a problem. He was also
extremely enthusiastic and with a creative bend which allowed him to visualise
phenomena. One of the results of the rare capability was the Feynman diagrams-
a legacy that helped physicists for decades.
What I most enjoyed about the
book was the eloquent style of writing. The author has managed to convey key ideas
in a poetic but at the same time, easily comprehensible manner. There is a
certain piece towards the end of the book which I found interesting. Here the
author digressed a bit and expounded on his reasons for the particular title of
the book. He started out by explaining how the definition of genius has evolved
over the years, with being associated with a creative and artistic bend of mind
(like Shakespeare) to becoming associated with a scientific temper,
particularly one who made inventions (such as Edison). In this piece he also
brought up whether Einstein, considered as the epitome of genius by public, was
any different from some of his contemporaries such as Bohr or Dirac. He
concludes by saying that such geniuses are now a rarity simply because there is
more competition and hence increased difficulties in standing out of the crowd.
Overall, I found the book engaging,
illuminating as well inspiring. I would say it is a must read for anyone
interested in knowing one of the great minds of the century as well as for any
lover of science.
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