Genius

The Life and Science of Richard Feynman

By: James Gleick

Narrated by: Dick Estell

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 quantam electrodynamics to his devastating exposé of the Challenger space shuttle disaster. At the same time, the ebullient Feynman established a reputation as an eccentric showman, a master safe cracker and bongo player, and a wizard of seduction.

Now James Gleick, author of the bestselling Chaos, unravels teh dense skein of Feynman‘s thought as well as the paradoxes of his character in a biography—which was nominated for a National Book Award—of outstanding lucidity and compassion.

Feynman Life and Science

This book is half biography and half science. Feynman was one of a kind and had a remarkable career. You can???t help thinking that this is how brains are supposed to work. The science exposition is clear and easy to follow. The narrator is a perfect match to the material.

Great book, performance is uneven

Fascinating (obviously) material very well presented. My only complaint is the narration. I certainly want to cut the narrator some slack because of the topics in the book. However, the mispronunciation of Murray Gell-Mann's name is pretty bad. Not just that, but when he book gets to the part that ACTUALLY DISCUSSES the common mispronunciation, the narrator changes his pronunciation to the correct one. Fine, I get it, but hen he goes back to his earlier, incorrect pronunciation later in the book. Other pet peeves include 'jargon' (JAR-GAHN, as if it were two words) and 'coital' (he somehow manages to give it three syllables.

Again, great book, but some of these avoidable miscues took me out of the narrative.

Enjoyable and highly educational

The author manages to eloquently capture his colorful main character but also teaches the non scientist a great deal about physics and mathematics in an understandable way. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Great book, read in 1950s style.

Dick Estell is to reading as Jonah Hill is to acting. Developed some quirks, and uses them over and over, not necessarily how the book would sound in my own head. Gleick is always fantastic, though, and I would listen to his books read by anyone. Dick hada hard time pronouncing names (even though there was a whole section about how to pronounce one of them), and technical words like scalar. Even "short-LIVEd" he reads as in "LIVE TV."

Surly you are joking Mr. Feynman, aren't you?

A respectable and admirable work. This book interprets Feynman as "A different being who plays human" way. I have to say that the book ignored some details in certain events, is it for their insignificance or something else that's not clear for me. Would definitely enjoy listening to it again.