No Ordinary Genius: The Illustrated Richard Feynman

From Publishers Weekly
Sykes made three TV documentaries about physicist Feynman (1918-1988) in the late '80s, including a BBC feature by the same title as this photo-hagiography. Illustrated with more than 130 photos and reproductions of such ephemera as Feynman's childhood notes on science books and encyclopedia articles, the text is mostly from Sykes's scripted interviews and from Feynman's own Curious Character stories. Nonetheless, the range here is broadened by contributions from 18 family members and colleagues. A chapter on Feynman's role on the Challenger Committee, which investigated the causes of the 1986 explosion of NASA's Challenger space shuttle in which seven astronauts died, casts more light on the investigation than on Feynman. The format is reminiscent of the physicist's bestsellers, e.g., Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman , with pictures. Sykes's off-putting calculated reverence, however, doesn't conceal his subject's inimitable, irrepressible spirit. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
This is not a biography of Nobel Laureate Feynman-the gold standard for that is unquestionably James Gleick's Genius (LJ 10/1/92)-but rather a very interesting and pleasing compilation of anecdotes, interview excerpts, and conversations by a man who has made several excellent films about and with Feynman-including The Pleasure of Finding Things Out and No Ordinary Genius. Even for those who think they know Feynman and his work, this book is a rare and touching glimpse of him in his own words and in the words of those who knew him best. A pleasure to look through (there are more than 100 photos) and read and an excellent book for general and popular collections. A browser's delight.Mark Shelton, Athens, OhioCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Feynman was a brilliant and puckish physicist, dynamic teacher, charming storyteller, and all-around buffoon who inspired near hero worship in the people he worked and played with. Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (1984), a collection of autobiographical anecdotes, became a best-seller, while two major biographies, James Gleick's superbly readable Genius (1992) and this year's in-depth The Beat of a Different Drummer by Jagdish Mehra, delve into both his quirky personality and his influential career. This photo-album tribute presents a series of quick-but-intimate portraits through photographs of Feynman and friends and a selection of entertaining and revealing excerpts from interviews and conversations. The pictures and text are from the documentaries independent filmmaker Sykes made about Feynman's life and science. The supporting cast includes physicists Richard Davies, Freeman Dyson, David Goodstein, and John Archibald Wheeler as well as a couple of computer scientists, artists, musicians, and Feynman's children. The main events of Feynman's life--winning the Nobel Prize; working at Los Alamos; discoveries in superfluidity, diffusion, and radioactive decay; and investigation into the Challenger tragedy--are all discussed, as is Feynman's gift for having fun. Donna Seaman


From Kirkus Reviews
A chorus of adulatory voices sings the praises of the late Nobel Prize-winning physicist, but fortunately the voice that rings loudest and clearest is Feynman's. Popularizers of the scientist's life are quick to mention the pleasure he derived from and the competence he displayed on the bongos, but he never beat the drum for his genius the way the myth- makers here do. Hardly a discouraging word is heard from the colleagues (Hans Bethe, Freeman Dyson, Murray Gell-Mann), the family (sister Joan, grateful for his encouragement of her own Ph.D. pursuits, wife Gweneth, and their children), the artists and sidekicks, the friends and barkeepers. None of them are nearly as interesting as Feynman's own descriptions of his life and work. Particularly noteworthy is his account of how he mastered hard subjects as a boy by reading into the text as far as he could go, then rereading and rereading so he could go farther each time. In another striking passage he describes how he visualizes the world of jiggling atoms and how the jiggles explain phenomena as varied as heat and magnetism. These moments illuminate Feynman's remarkable intuition about how the world works. Math in the abstract did not appeal; what he did was invent the math needed to get the physics right. All of this should be extraordinarily interesting to educators, psychologists, and historians of science, since it provides key insights into the mind of the man who invented the famous F. diagrams but whose curiosity also turned to computers, the invention of the world's smallest motors, and the study of art. Colleagues provide additional reflections, and the recreational and travel tales are the stuff of myth. (Filmmaker Sykes has made two documentaries about Feynman.) But the real meat--and the book's worth--resides in the master's words. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


From Book News, Inc.
Sykes is a documentary filmmaker for BBC TV who grew to know the great physicist while making two films about his life. He has compiled selections from Feynman's writings and other sources and arranged them in topical chapters, supplemented with photos. Those who've read Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman and What Do You Care What Other People Think? will find much that is redundant with those books, but the compilation is nevertheless a worthwhile and engaging presentation of the man and his work. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.


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This is not a biography of Nobel Laureate Feynman-the gold standard for that is unquestionably James Gleick's Genius (LJ 10/1/92)-but rather a very interesting and pleasing compilation of anecdotes, interview excerpts, and conversations by a man who has made several excellent films about and with Feynman-including The Pleasure of Finding Things Out and No Ordinary Genius. Even for those who think they know Feynman and his work, this book is a rare and touching glimpse of him in his own words and in the words of those who knew him best. A pleasure to look through (there are more than 100 photos) and read and an excellent book for general and popular collections. A browser's delight.-Mark Shelton, Athens, Ohio


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