Reviews for No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman

The average rating for No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-10-28 00:00:00 Brent Ellingsen Just when I thought I'd read most everything this guy ever wrote, a friend gave me No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman. Wonderful! I felt I was meeting someone that up till now I'd only known through letters'all the photos and drawings and little notes give me a clearer, more intimate picture of this iconoclastic scientist whose words I've loved for years. The robe and bunny slippers picture adds significantly to my up-to-now skimpy mental picture. This book is full of telling anecdotes, many of which are also new to me. Freeman Dyson tells that once, in Austin Texas, Feynman was so appalled at the garishly opulent hotel he'd been placed in that he simply announced "Not sleeping here, good-bye", and walked out into the woods to sleep under the stars. This from a man in his mid-sixties who was dying of cancer. Danny Hillis talks about being startled into confessing his sadness at the realization that Feynman was dying. After a moment, the great scientist answered, "Yeah, that bugs me too, sometimes." The king is dead; long live the king.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-05-20 00:00:00 Hariette Surovell Imagine watching a documentary about Richard Feynman, with photos and interviews with Feynman's friends, family, and colleagues, as well as Feynman himself. This book was based on a series of Feynman documentaries, so it's basically like reading a documentary. It's very similar, in style and content, to the Feynman autobiographies (Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?). You get to know Feynman as having the curiosity and honesty of a child, but the intellect - and associated quirks - of a genius. One difference between this book and the others is that Feynman actually comes across as less arrogant in this book because Feynman's own words are interspersed with others' (favorable) opinions of him as well. You get to see that Feynman was really a remarkable person who touched a lot of people's lives in many ways well beyond physics. He was incredibly multifaceted, with interests ranging from bongo drums to Tuva (an erstwhile country at the center of Asia). This book also includes excerpts of Feynman talking physics, which the other books don't have. Feynman really had a gift for analogies, and he's able to explain even complex concepts in simple, every day terms.