Genius by James Gleick

ISBN: 0-679-40836-3

Reading a book about Richard Feynman is always a risky proposition. You never know if what you are reading is actual history, embellished history, something Feynman invented as a kind of legend, or some combination of all the above.

It really does not help that most of the world’s intellectual strata see Feynman as a kind of cerebral demigod. Wherever this happens, the “cult of personality” people are never far behind with their own specific legends and stories about the historical character that is the object of their veneration.

Funnily enough, Feynman would have fairly hated people who do this strange “hero-worship” on the basis of perceived authority. Indeed, the entire book makes the case that Fenyman attempted quite hard to avoid responsibility as a lifestyle choice while continually painting himself into a corner that would result in his having to assume the very responsibility he tried to eschew.

This work describes what is likely an accurate picture of the life of Feynman and the narrator of the tale knows when to “provide exposition” and when to back-off. There did not seem to be a sense of the author attempting to accomplish any particular agenda with the story of Feynman other than to relate the tale as accurately as possible while keeping the interest of the reader.

Feynman’s world, it appears, is really a kind of desolation that he navigates in a way so as to make it appear as though a child were innocently perceiving it through a lens of curiosity. Whether this is a coping strategy or merely a personal trait is difficult to tell. What is clear, however, is that Feynman suffered many tragedies–from the death of his first wife–to his probable irradiation from the atomic bomb he helped engineer–to the torturous convulsions of relationships he had to try to cope with what has the earmarks of being the grief of the death of his wife.

Throughout the ordeal, Feynman, it seems, is simply trying to “have a good time”. Sometimes it seems his idea of “fun” borders on the cruel–particularly with his relationships after his wife dies up until his second marriage. Other times his idea of fun is the same novelty anyone feels when they are inquiring about how the world works. Feynman’s brand of magic–for that is really the best description of how he went about describing the world around him–happened to be mathematical modeling and calculation. This tool he wielded with a singular kind of honesty that we seldom see in science today–put differently–he knew the limitations of the tool that he held. He never moved beyond the ability of what the tool was he used to attempt to describe something that the tool could not know. If the model described how molecules moved as a statistical average–that was what it described and to try to say anything more of what that meant was a meaningless question that might possibly be unknowable.

This perhaps “ruthless” persistence on epistemological implications did not bode well for philosophy which was the chosen career of one of his children for a time which produced the kind of friction between them one would expect. Likewise, religion fared no better, as to be Jewish during the time Feynman was trying to make his career was seen as a handicap at a university level since universities had “caps” on how many Jewish people they would accommodate. Eventually, Feynman becomes alien to his own Jewishness as what might be described as a kind of sacrifice to the altar of the secular university. This sacrifice was of course willingly made because Feynman believed faith and knowledge could not co-exist as knowledge would cease to be developed as people assumed faithful answers to potentially knowable things.

Throughout the narrative there are many clashing ideas or propositions pulling at Feynman and he always seems to reconcile them. If he makes a viscous review of your work as a fellow scientist, he asks the publication to hold on to it since he wishes not to hurt their feelings. If he breaks up with a lover, he seems to write them letters of recommendation. He does not always come out a hero. There are times, for instance, where he is paying for what appear to be abortions due to potential pregnancies. Eventually, one former flame tells him that when one seeks pleasure, it is always the “innocent” who wind up paying the price for the “fun”. Of course, this is so because the guilty, no one asserts, should be excluded from having to pay a price. Indeed, the atomic bomb was an implement where many people paid with their lives and surely not all of them were guilty of the same sins which Japan was. It is also true that Feynman had “fun” making the bomb. He is not touched in the same way other makers of the bomb are with a sort of remorse. Indeed, Feynman often times cannot remember which hand is his left hand, or his right hand. There is a curious neutrality to his morality.

All in all, Gleick brings all these details about Feynman to the forefront in a masterful way. He avoids making any judgments on Feynman deftly, and allows the story to tell itself, which is often a difficult task when making a biography of any person. We learn to feel rather sorry for Feynman in the sense that he endures many tragedies even though Feynman probably would not want us to. By the end, when Feynman is asked to testify before the government with NASA concerning the space shuttle “Challenger” exploison, we can better understand his reaction: “You are trying to ruin my life!” He simply cannot seem to get away from explosions and science and agendas and having to be the lone wolf who discovers the truth.

For that truth, Feynman has to pay quite heavy prices which eventually include his own life due to a series of cancers of a somewhat unexplained origin. Of course, the natural explanation is that it was the radioactivity from the bomb tests. A better explanation, though, may have been all the hell Feynman lived through. Genius, as a whole, does an excellent job–allowing us to go through that life with its ups and downs, sorrows and joys. If a copy of this book comes your way, and you are looking for some reading that will both deepen your understanding of some rather modern science, and explore a curious character who was at the forefront, it is well worth your time and investment.