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Feynman
Richard Feynman: physicist . . . Nobel winner . . . bestselling author . . . safe-cracker. In this substantial graphic novel biography, First Second presents the larger-than-life exploits of Nobel-winning quantum physicist, adventurer, musician, world-class raconteur, and one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century: Richard Feynman. Written by nonfiction comics mainstay Jim Ottaviani and brilliantly illustrated by First Second author Leland Myrick, Feynman tells the story of the great man's life from his childhood in Long Island to his work on the Manhattan Project and the Challenger disaster. Ottaviani tackles the bad with the good, leaving the reader delighted by Feynman's exuberant life and staggered at the loss humanity suffered with his death. Anyone who ever wanted to know more about Richard P. Feynman, quantum electrodynamics, the fine art of the bongo drums, the outrageously obscure nation of Tuva, or the development and popularization of the field of physics in the United States need look no further than this rich and joyful work.
• One of School Library Journal's Best Adult Books 4 Teens titles of 2011
• One of Horn Book's Best Nonfiction Books of 2011
• One of School Library Journal's Best Adult Books 4 Teens titles of 2011
• One of Horn Book's Best Nonfiction Books of 2011
266 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2011
About the author
Jim Ottaviani
23 books287 followersI've worked at news agencies and golf courses in the Chicagoland area, nuclear reactors in the U.S. and Japan, and libraries in Michigan. When I'm not staying up late writing comics about scientists, I'm spraining my ankles and flattening my feet by running on trails. Or I'm reading. I read a lot.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 715 reviews
October 27, 2011
Somewhere around two years ago, I ran into a video clip in which a brilliant physicist almost-patiently explained to an interviewer why he would not be explaining how magnets work to the man. Indeed, why he couldn't explain the phenomenon or any of the laws that govern it. The physicist was Richard Feynman and his answer was essentially that the question would demand an infinitely regressing series of Why questions, each one more complex and specialized than the last. Or in short, the interviewer wasn't smart enough to understand the answer.*
I was amused by Feynman's response to the question and the manner of his delivery. I had always intended to seek out the documentary or series from which the clip was excerpted, but for one reason or another never found the time. Still, his name lingered in my cognizant mind and when I saw that a comic about the man was being produced, I happily sought it out.
Through a happy coincidence, not two weeks before Feynman arrived on my desk, I had the opportunity to read Logicomix , the record of another luminous mind of the 20th century. Where Feynman lays out the life and intellectual pursuits of a great theoretical physicist, Logicomix follows the rigourous quest of Bertrand Russell, one of the era's great logicians. And despite their not-so-interrelated fields of expertise, the two books enjoy quite a bit of overlap, both in terms of characters** and themes.
One of the abiding motifs that Feynman's character in Feynman hopes to impress upon the reader is the infinite complexity of things, of physical things. Scientists have names and formulae to describe any number of processes that govern our world, but do they truly understand these things or are they just ridiculously dedicated to the art of taxonomy? Feynman, in a number of ways, cynically suggests the latter. After all, there's only so much headway the finite can make when rushing toward the infinite. The question of how to sound out our depths when we are out of our depth is the central conflict in Russell's story and is the bugbear that nearly drives him to ruin and madness.
Feynman, being a clown, never seems too close to madness. He is always knee-deep in wonder at the gala production the universe displays for him in every moment to be concerned with sanities. He is, however, also well-aware of the genius scientist's humble position before the natural world—how the physicist must grovel before the unknown just to get a little further down that chain of ever-more-specified questions.
Feynman is a lot more funny than I expected it to be. This is the story, among other things, of the development of The Bomb. Of "I am become death" and all that. The story of the 20th-gory-century. Both Feynman and Logicomix sit amidst the tumult of Hitler's Germany and horrible things that well-eclipse the dreams and goals of individual men. And yet while Feynman could have been a somber reflection on the works of men, because it contains the character of Richard Feynman as its central spirit and guiding light, it really cannot be anything other than amusingly interesting.
[That's right Richard. You made The Bomb and all you can do is bang on your drum? Get real, man.]
Even in the darkness of the human struggle, jest overpowers meditation. Feynman has thoughtful things to communicate, careful ideas to draw out—but it does so with winks and smirks. With an eye to the adventure that life can be if only one can see the adventure that life is.
Feynman is a wonderful book, well-written (with the now-deceased physicist as our interlocutor) and presented with a relaxed art-style that communicates the easy-going spirit of the man effortlessly. The book also delivers what I had wished Logicomix would have: a concise, detailed explanation of its hero's central Remarkable Idea. Feynman won a Nobel Prize for his work describing and solving quantum electrodynamic principle (QED). If magnets are not the kind of thing that can be explained to laymen, QED is the kind of thing that probably shouldn't even be named. Still, I was hungry to get a taste (and therefore appreciation) for just what Feynman did that was so incredible. Feynman delivers by recreating, in the book's final pages, a lecture on QED that Feynman delivered in New Zealand to an introductory-level physics class. It's tough to follow, complex, and probably a bit above most of our heads, but I was glad that it was there. And the book is probably better off for its inclusion.
Both Logicomix and Feynman successfully translate their giant figures into human characters with whom readers can empathize. Both books function well as distillations of lives readers might not otherwise appreciate. Both books crack open doors into understanding the story of the 20th century from directions usually unmapped and unexplored. Both books are truly wonderful and very much worth the reader's time.
Only one of them, however, will make one laugh.***
[Oh Richard, you card.]
_____________________
Notes
*To be fair, Feynman probably wouldn't have described himself as being smart enough to understand The Answer either.
**Or at least one character. John Von Neumann, the great mathematician and one of the giants in the early days of computer sciences makes appearances both in Feynman's and Russell's lives at various points in the two narratives.
***And I'm not telling which.
[Review courtesy of Good Ok Bad]
February 7, 2017
I was really disappointed by this graphic novel.
The storytelling was weak, disjointed and confusing. I struggled to finish it and was bored most of the time while reading it.
Maybe it was just me...
The storytelling was weak, disjointed and confusing. I struggled to finish it and was bored most of the time while reading it.
Maybe it was just me...
November 17, 2013
I have been slow to discover the delights of Feynman, but I recognise a similar thinker, albeit a much, much brighter man. I love his famous BBC interview that was towards the end of his life and I did greatly enjoy his autobiographical sections in "Six Easy Pieces".
A graphic novel adaptation of Feynam's life works very well. While it does not present any new material, it takes the best snippets from all different sources and makes his life come alive with wonderful and simple illustration. Another great advantage to this medium is that the authors presented sections of Feynman lecturing and explaining physics problems. This works wonderfully and could only be bettered by watching a video of these lectures. (You can find some of his filmed lectures on Youtube).
So this was a wonderful read for a rainy Sunday afternoon. It really did capture his voice and his philosophies if I could use that term.
A graphic novel adaptation of Feynam's life works very well. While it does not present any new material, it takes the best snippets from all different sources and makes his life come alive with wonderful and simple illustration. Another great advantage to this medium is that the authors presented sections of Feynman lecturing and explaining physics problems. This works wonderfully and could only be bettered by watching a video of these lectures. (You can find some of his filmed lectures on Youtube).
So this was a wonderful read for a rainy Sunday afternoon. It really did capture his voice and his philosophies if I could use that term.
August 31, 2012
I really enjoyed this graphic biography. I found it much more engaging (perhaps because the subject was more engaging) than Logicomics, to which it will likely be compared. Unlike Nat Torkington, I loved the last part of the book, which took a stab at explaining Quantum Electrodynamics (for which Feynman shared a Nobel prize.)
It was also lovely to see people I know appear in the book, including Freeman Dyson (who explained Feynman's idiosyncratic thinking to the rest of the physics world in a way that they could understand) and Danny Hillis. I had no idea that Danny had hired Feynman at Thinking Machines. And the night that Richard Feynman and Freeman Dyson spent the night together and kept each other up talking physics can only be compared to the night when Ben Franklin and John Adams shared a room on their way to Philadelphia!
The only part of the book I found unsatisfying was the description of Feynman's safecracking while at Los Alamos. While the book made a show of explaining his technique, it left something crucial out (at least for me). I couldn't figure out how having the door left open would tell Feynman what the last two digits of the combination were.
This web page, for example, gives a different explanation of his technique that is quite clear: http://www.science20.com/geeks039_gui...
(It's possible that he often got two digits because the person sometimes left the lock on the last number, and the technique above gives the first number. But that's different than getting the last two numbers. If anyone knows differently, please explain in the comments!]
At any rate, this is a wonderful overview of the life and ideas of a man so many have heard of, but only in fragments. Best of all, it's a quick fun read that leaves you hungry for more. I've had my Dad's copy of the Feyman Lectures on Physics on my shelf for decades, but never read them, and his autobiography Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman has been on my to-read list for almost as long. Now I'm going to read both, as well as some of the other books and documentary videos cited in the extensive bibliography.
It was also lovely to see people I know appear in the book, including Freeman Dyson (who explained Feynman's idiosyncratic thinking to the rest of the physics world in a way that they could understand) and Danny Hillis. I had no idea that Danny had hired Feynman at Thinking Machines. And the night that Richard Feynman and Freeman Dyson spent the night together and kept each other up talking physics can only be compared to the night when Ben Franklin and John Adams shared a room on their way to Philadelphia!
The only part of the book I found unsatisfying was the description of Feynman's safecracking while at Los Alamos. While the book made a show of explaining his technique, it left something crucial out (at least for me). I couldn't figure out how having the door left open would tell Feynman what the last two digits of the combination were.
This web page, for example, gives a different explanation of his technique that is quite clear: http://www.science20.com/geeks039_gui...
(It's possible that he often got two digits because the person sometimes left the lock on the last number, and the technique above gives the first number. But that's different than getting the last two numbers. If anyone knows differently, please explain in the comments!]
At any rate, this is a wonderful overview of the life and ideas of a man so many have heard of, but only in fragments. Best of all, it's a quick fun read that leaves you hungry for more. I've had my Dad's copy of the Feyman Lectures on Physics on my shelf for decades, but never read them, and his autobiography Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman has been on my to-read list for almost as long. Now I'm going to read both, as well as some of the other books and documentary videos cited in the extensive bibliography.
August 27, 2011
Too disjointed, showing bits and pieces of Feynman's life without much connecting it all together. The art didn't grab me either.
The book jacket claims Feynman was a lot of fun at parties, but that doesn't shine through much in the book itself. I didn't realize some of the the things he said were jokes until other characters laughed uproariously, and even then I still don't quite understand how some of them are jokes.
The lecture presented as Feynman's effort to make quantum electrodynamics understandable to laymen didn't succeed in that goal for me at all. It takes up the final section of the book, is a radical departure from the content in the rest of the story, and I found it extremely confusing.
Feynman seems like an interesting guy, and some individual chapters are interesting, but this just doesn't hold together.
The book jacket claims Feynman was a lot of fun at parties, but that doesn't shine through much in the book itself. I didn't realize some of the the things he said were jokes until other characters laughed uproariously, and even then I still don't quite understand how some of them are jokes.
The lecture presented as Feynman's effort to make quantum electrodynamics understandable to laymen didn't succeed in that goal for me at all. It takes up the final section of the book, is a radical departure from the content in the rest of the story, and I found it extremely confusing.
Feynman seems like an interesting guy, and some individual chapters are interesting, but this just doesn't hold together.
August 22, 2013
A comic-book biography of Nobel Prize winning theoretical physicist Richard Feynman?! It's an idea quirky enough to have pleased the man himself, I think. It's a great way of finding out about a great scientist without risk of ever getting bored and would make a fine first book about the man for someone unfamiliar with his life and work.
For Feynman fanatics, and I suppose I must be one, it offers less; most of the material here is taken from the widely available published books by and about the man. If you've read them, very little here will be unfamiliar. Those parts that were new to me were dug up from the CalTech archives. One wonders how much more there can be that hasn't made it to a format that is readily publicly accessible?
For Feynman fanatics, and I suppose I must be one, it offers less; most of the material here is taken from the widely available published books by and about the man. If you've read them, very little here will be unfamiliar. Those parts that were new to me were dug up from the CalTech archives. One wonders how much more there can be that hasn't made it to a format that is readily publicly accessible?
January 6, 2018
A graphic novel about a famous Mathematician and Physicist. Wow! I loved this book. I have been wanting to read about Feynman and this was a great introduction to who this nobel prize winning physicist is. He was so different than you would think he is. It has little math or physics in it. It is mostly an engaging story about him.
He helped them come up with the atomic bomb. He liked to study small things like safes and locks. At Caltech, he would do his work at a strip club which got in trouble and had to go to court. He was the only patron to appear in court and defend the club. His first wife died and he late remarried. He seems like a womanizer, we was always looking at women on beaches and in Brazil.
He got the Nobel prize from coming up with QED, something to do with how light interacts with particles or electrons which explains everything but gravity and radioactive. The book spend the last 30 pages going over his theory in simple terms and it did a good job and I still don't really understand it and he said as a reader I really shouldn't as he doesn't really understand it.
He also helped NASA figure out what went wrong with the blown up space shuttle. He got cancer at the end and he seemed like a really interesting person overall. He meet many famous people like Einstein.
I love that this novel is about someone in the sciences world. How cool. I couldn't put it down. I would read and it got so late. I was engrossed. Give this a try, it will surprise you!
He helped them come up with the atomic bomb. He liked to study small things like safes and locks. At Caltech, he would do his work at a strip club which got in trouble and had to go to court. He was the only patron to appear in court and defend the club. His first wife died and he late remarried. He seems like a womanizer, we was always looking at women on beaches and in Brazil.
He got the Nobel prize from coming up with QED, something to do with how light interacts with particles or electrons which explains everything but gravity and radioactive. The book spend the last 30 pages going over his theory in simple terms and it did a good job and I still don't really understand it and he said as a reader I really shouldn't as he doesn't really understand it.
He also helped NASA figure out what went wrong with the blown up space shuttle. He got cancer at the end and he seemed like a really interesting person overall. He meet many famous people like Einstein.
I love that this novel is about someone in the sciences world. How cool. I couldn't put it down. I would read and it got so late. I was engrossed. Give this a try, it will surprise you!
October 18, 2013
A graphic novel biography. There are a few of these floating around now, and I think it's a format that's best suited for scientists and artists. People whose lives will necessarily have graphic elements. Now, I knew very little about Feynman going into this book, and it would probably work best for people who are similarly uninitiated. It seems like much of the content was taken from Feynman's more popular works, and so there will be little new here for people who have been reading about him for a long time.
As for me, I did really like the biography, except... Well, there are a few longish chunks of Feynman's lectures towards the end of the book, and they were just out of my reach. Maybe on another day, maybe if I'd had sound as well as text and image, maybe... But not today, not this reading. It made the entire book screech nearly to a halt for me, and I only forced myself through it because I refused to admit defeat when I was so close to the end. If it weren't for those lectures, I would have given this book four stars, easily. But I just got lost.
As for me, I did really like the biography, except... Well, there are a few longish chunks of Feynman's lectures towards the end of the book, and they were just out of my reach. Maybe on another day, maybe if I'd had sound as well as text and image, maybe... But not today, not this reading. It made the entire book screech nearly to a halt for me, and I only forced myself through it because I refused to admit defeat when I was so close to the end. If it weren't for those lectures, I would have given this book four stars, easily. But I just got lost.
March 23, 2013
Great art. Seems to capture various dimensions of the guy very well, and even get at the ineffability of explaining certain of his physics discoveries, which he admitted he couldn't fully understand himself. I grew tired of him; the idea is that he is sort of Aspergerishly off-putting, socially, quirky, and this genius... who hates almost all other disciplines...except he uses art to illustrate/explain his ideas. His "charm," which never wears off for the adoring Ottaviani and Myrick, wears off for me fairly early, though I was engaged for much of the biography. Such as his almost complete lack of depth of reflection about his participation in the making of the bomb in Los Alamos.... banging on a drum, no real thought about implications... his treatment of almost all others, his massive ego... which is supposed to be offset by his awshucks humor and lack of attention to dress and grooming... though did seem to be real love for his first wife, Aline, that comes off as his only genuine relationship ever in his life... So he's off-putting to me, I come to care about him less and less as we proceed, but it is still a pretty great read, overall, if you are interested in one of the great names in the history of science, and physics in particular. Related books I have read, for comparison: Logocomix, about Bertrand Russell, and math, and Feynman is better than that one, we get closer to understanding F and his discoveries than to BR... and Asterios Polyp, which is about a theoretical architect, fictional, but one of the best gns ever, deeply insightful about art, architect and life in a way these two really miss the boat on.
January 16, 2021
Fizikçi Feynman’ın hayatına bir bakış yaptığımız çizgi roman. Nerede kimlerle neler yapmış öğrenmek güzeldi. Özellikle ülke ülke gezmesi, kimsenin umursamadığı konularda çok iyi hale gelmesi ve o konulardan daha önemli noktalara sıçraması eğlenceli.
February 10, 2021
" I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned."
- Richard P. Feynman -
FEYNMAN, a critically acclaimed biography of the Nobel-prize winner for his work in Quantum Electrodynamics; is presented in a funny & provoking graphic novel.
#Feynman was famous for not only for contributing to the creation of atomic bomb; but mainly for his unorthodox methods of learning & teaching which brought physics closer to the understanding of mere mortals like us.
This #graphicnovel takes excerpts from his other autobiographies; bringing us to his many phases of life: including his early jump into the world of science; his love life and even his dabble in safe-cracking.
Caution though, that despite being in general entertaining - the book is also full of scientific jargons & theories that may leave us puzzled or at loss (I must admit that I gloss over these parts, haha).
My main reason for reading this one is because I genuinely admire Feynman's brilliance & would like to know more about him. It's a fun way to read autobiographies & I get to kill 2 birds with 1 stone while making it my Feb Week @untitledbc 's #ubcreadingchallenge
3.5 ⭐️: an eye opener, a great character to be explored with funny moments in it - downside is the jargons may be a put-off factor for some people.
Recommended for physics-lovers, Nobel-prize aspiring fellas & those who like to know what goes behind the mind of a genius;)
- Richard P. Feynman -
FEYNMAN, a critically acclaimed biography of the Nobel-prize winner for his work in Quantum Electrodynamics; is presented in a funny & provoking graphic novel.
#Feynman was famous for not only for contributing to the creation of atomic bomb; but mainly for his unorthodox methods of learning & teaching which brought physics closer to the understanding of mere mortals like us.
This #graphicnovel takes excerpts from his other autobiographies; bringing us to his many phases of life: including his early jump into the world of science; his love life and even his dabble in safe-cracking.
Caution though, that despite being in general entertaining - the book is also full of scientific jargons & theories that may leave us puzzled or at loss (I must admit that I gloss over these parts, haha).
My main reason for reading this one is because I genuinely admire Feynman's brilliance & would like to know more about him. It's a fun way to read autobiographies & I get to kill 2 birds with 1 stone while making it my Feb Week @untitledbc 's #ubcreadingchallenge
3.5 ⭐️: an eye opener, a great character to be explored with funny moments in it - downside is the jargons may be a put-off factor for some people.
Recommended for physics-lovers, Nobel-prize aspiring fellas & those who like to know what goes behind the mind of a genius;)
November 18, 2012
Anyone who knows anything about anything knows I'm a know-nothing when it comes to math and physics. This is probably the fault of the Arizona public school system. Despite this lack of knowledge I quite liked this graphic novel bio. With great illustrations and not too math heavy it reminded me a lot of Logicomix though I don't feel it was anywhere near as ambitious.
Hopefully these types of graphic novels keep getting released so there's a better chance of me becoming a know-something.
Hopefully these types of graphic novels keep getting released so there's a better chance of me becoming a know-something.
August 13, 2021
It was okay. Perhaps would be more interesting to people new to Feynman. Suffers from the limitations of a graphic novel: not many words, not enough charm. The physics part was also bloated occasionally.
Recommended for Feynmandevotees followers only.
Recommended for Feynman
June 11, 2017
TODO full review later:
+++ A biography of Richard Feynman, as a graphic novel no less! Feynman by Jim Ottaviani is a rare attempt to explain the life of a brilliant physicist to us all.
++ The biographical elements are well chosen, sampling from the memoir series of Richard Feynman (The pleasure of finding things out, Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!, and What do you care what other people think?). The curious mind. The irreverent scientist. The boy. The explorer.
+++ The professional work is well explained, often in Feynman's self-deprecating style. The part dedicated to explaining the actual physics is a good summary of the QED theory and how to think about it, both derived from Feynman's attempts to explain his work to the general public.
+/-- The medium is useful to keep the tone light, but not very useful for many of the deeper aspects of the work. Works well to depict the many (colorful) aspects in Feynman's middle-age life and the chaos at NASA, bit misses the point with his early life (too little, too light), the dreadful death of disease encountered by his first wofe (the light tones and caricature do not match the gravity of the situation), and is barely doing justice to the scientific summary (mostly visual in nature anyway, but in need of some deeper explanation and examples).
+++ A biography of Richard Feynman, as a graphic novel no less! Feynman by Jim Ottaviani is a rare attempt to explain the life of a brilliant physicist to us all.
++ The biographical elements are well chosen, sampling from the memoir series of Richard Feynman (The pleasure of finding things out, Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!, and What do you care what other people think?). The curious mind. The irreverent scientist. The boy. The explorer.
+++ The professional work is well explained, often in Feynman's self-deprecating style. The part dedicated to explaining the actual physics is a good summary of the QED theory and how to think about it, both derived from Feynman's attempts to explain his work to the general public.
+/-- The medium is useful to keep the tone light, but not very useful for many of the deeper aspects of the work. Works well to depict the many (colorful) aspects in Feynman's middle-age life and the chaos at NASA, bit misses the point with his early life (too little, too light), the dreadful death of disease encountered by his first wofe (the light tones and caricature do not match the gravity of the situation), and is barely doing justice to the scientific summary (mostly visual in nature anyway, but in need of some deeper explanation and examples).
October 21, 2011
Before I picked up this book I didn't really know who Richard Feynman was. I mean I heard the name, but it didn't really mean lot to me. And then...I picked up this book. And within 4 pages I was captivated by him and what he meant not only to our understanding of science, but our understanding of the world at large. I didn't even get 15 pages in the book and I started looking to see what other books my library owned about Feynman, just so that I could learn more about him. That's how well this book is put together.
Ottaviani weaves together this coherent and captivating story from Feynman's own words. Instead of feeling like we're being talked to by some anonymous narrator, Feynman himself talks to us. It feels like we're sitting next to him, maybe with a good meal or a couple of drinks, just shooting the breeze. It's a masterful way of letting us hear Feynman's story. And the artwork works perfectly. We can see the frustration on Feynman & other scientists faces as they face the challenges before them, from the atomic bomb to why one wheel of color seems to move faster than the other on a spinning plate.
I can't imagine a better book to hand a high school student to help them understand the world around them better. Or a better book to give to anyone. This book needs to be on every library's shelf.
Ottaviani weaves together this coherent and captivating story from Feynman's own words. Instead of feeling like we're being talked to by some anonymous narrator, Feynman himself talks to us. It feels like we're sitting next to him, maybe with a good meal or a couple of drinks, just shooting the breeze. It's a masterful way of letting us hear Feynman's story. And the artwork works perfectly. We can see the frustration on Feynman & other scientists faces as they face the challenges before them, from the atomic bomb to why one wheel of color seems to move faster than the other on a spinning plate.
I can't imagine a better book to hand a high school student to help them understand the world around them better. Or a better book to give to anyone. This book needs to be on every library's shelf.
December 27, 2018
This was an incredibly fun biography of arguably the biggest personality in physics. Feynman the joker; Feynman the sage; Feynman the lover... Feynman the man.
Failings, successes, ideas, the man's life is well-covered in an engaging, interesting way. The writing is accessible, although I must note that you will get some science. You won't have to parse any equations (though you'll see some), but you will be exposed to some philosophical and scientific concepts that aren't... light-weight. But with visuals!
Anyway, this was one of the most engaging biographies that I've ever read and I am supremely happy that it turned up (I hadn't even been looking for anything like it). A graphic novel biography of a physicist! Huh.
If you find this, open to the first scene, titled "Some Fool Physicist" (just before the scene with the Tyrannosaurus Rex crashing through the little boy's bedroom wall) and give it a read. Just a few pages of comic book. For me, those first few pages hooked me into Feynman's life's adventure.
Failings, successes, ideas, the man's life is well-covered in an engaging, interesting way. The writing is accessible, although I must note that you will get some science. You won't have to parse any equations (though you'll see some), but you will be exposed to some philosophical and scientific concepts that aren't... light-weight. But with visuals!
Anyway, this was one of the most engaging biographies that I've ever read and I am supremely happy that it turned up (I hadn't even been looking for anything like it). A graphic novel biography of a physicist! Huh.
If you find this, open to the first scene, titled "Some Fool Physicist" (just before the scene with the Tyrannosaurus Rex crashing through the little boy's bedroom wall) and give it a read. Just a few pages of comic book. For me, those first few pages hooked me into Feynman's life's adventure.
July 4, 2018
4,5*
Von Feynman habe ich zwei, drei Bücher gelesen,u.a. "Sie belieben wohl zu scherzen, Mr Feynman". Daher war ich mit seiner grundsätzlichen Biographie und vielen Anekdoten vertraut, die sich auch hier in diesem Comic finden. Ich mochte die grafische Umsetzung der Anekdoten, z.B. der Vorlesung zur Lehre der Lichts und die Details (gedankliche bunte Formeln, Feynman-Diagramme, Kritzeleien auf einem Blatt ). Was mich immer jedoch immer mal wieder aus dem Lesefluss heraus brachte war, dass der Comic zwar zeitlich strukturiert war, jedoch zwischen verschiedenen Anekdoten hin und her sprang; eine "Überleitung" oder Verbindung war nicht immer greifbar, sodass es manchmal wie eine Aneinanderreihung von Ereignissen wirkte. Das ändert aber nichts daran, dass Jim Ottaviani (Text), Leland Myrick (Artwort), Hilary Sycamore (Kolorierung) und Ebi Naumann (Übersetzung ins Deutsche) für mich die Facetten und den Humor Richard Feynmans in dieses Format transportieren konnten.
Von Feynman habe ich zwei, drei Bücher gelesen,u.a. "Sie belieben wohl zu scherzen, Mr Feynman". Daher war ich mit seiner grundsätzlichen Biographie und vielen Anekdoten vertraut, die sich auch hier in diesem Comic finden. Ich mochte die grafische Umsetzung der Anekdoten, z.B. der Vorlesung zur Lehre der Lichts und die Details (gedankliche bunte Formeln, Feynman-Diagramme, Kritzeleien auf einem Blatt ). Was mich immer jedoch immer mal wieder aus dem Lesefluss heraus brachte war, dass der Comic zwar zeitlich strukturiert war, jedoch zwischen verschiedenen Anekdoten hin und her sprang; eine "Überleitung" oder Verbindung war nicht immer greifbar, sodass es manchmal wie eine Aneinanderreihung von Ereignissen wirkte. Das ändert aber nichts daran, dass Jim Ottaviani (Text), Leland Myrick (Artwort), Hilary Sycamore (Kolorierung) und Ebi Naumann (Übersetzung ins Deutsche) für mich die Facetten und den Humor Richard Feynmans in dieses Format transportieren konnten.
August 14, 2019
Recommended for anyone interested in anything.
My only complaint here is that it wasn't long enough--that's actually sort of the point, though. It's taken several books to document Feynman's life and Ottaviani does everything he can to capture his spirit without becoming excessively long. The medium and execution both work great. He's a ridiculously interesting guy. He not only helped develop the atomic bomb, but he won a Nobel Prize for his work in quantum mechanics, and later played an important part in the Challenger investigation. And none of that is even what he's probably most famous for, which is his series of popular and painstakingly developed lectures on physics. Besides all that, he's got a great sense of humor, a complete willingness to admit ignorance, and an amazing ability to tune out unimportant details and figure out the essence of any problem. I'll be tracking down more work by and about him.
My only complaint here is that it wasn't long enough--that's actually sort of the point, though. It's taken several books to document Feynman's life and Ottaviani does everything he can to capture his spirit without becoming excessively long. The medium and execution both work great. He's a ridiculously interesting guy. He not only helped develop the atomic bomb, but he won a Nobel Prize for his work in quantum mechanics, and later played an important part in the Challenger investigation. And none of that is even what he's probably most famous for, which is his series of popular and painstakingly developed lectures on physics. Besides all that, he's got a great sense of humor, a complete willingness to admit ignorance, and an amazing ability to tune out unimportant details and figure out the essence of any problem. I'll be tracking down more work by and about him.
November 23, 2013
Good primer on an incredibly smart man. There were several times where the story jumped and I couldn't follow, and that's not to mention the math and science parts! I do have some background in calculus and physics, so I was mostly able to follow those sections, or at least follow it enough to keep going. I love how he insisted that it's OK to not get it and it's OK to question the results, because that's what this level of math and science is supposed to be! Pushing boundaries, thinking outside the box. Hell, thinking outside the visible and known worlds!
I'd like to read some of Feynman's own books, but I think I'd need to take some college courses, first!
I'd like to read some of Feynman's own books, but I think I'd need to take some college courses, first!
May 17, 2024
if you like this review i now have website: www.michaelkamakana.com
101415: gave this to dad to look at, he was doing his masters in physics at caltech and went to several lectures by feynman, this is what he said:
Wonderful book Michael. And the drawings really work. So I have concluded that the reason I have not liked the "ilustrated" ones you brought to me before is that I did not like the violence that was a major part of each page. Thanks so much for bringing it to me.
Love dad
so that is a rec!
101415: gave this to dad to look at, he was doing his masters in physics at caltech and went to several lectures by feynman, this is what he said:
Wonderful book Michael. And the drawings really work. So I have concluded that the reason I have not liked the "ilustrated" ones you brought to me before is that I did not like the violence that was a major part of each page. Thanks so much for bringing it to me.
Love dad
so that is a rec!
January 25, 2018
Zufällig in der Bücherei entdeckt.
War ganz interessant, aber wer sich im Vorfeld nicht schon mit der Biographie von Feynman auseinandergesetzt hat, wird mit den ganzen Orts- und Personenwechsel so seine Problemchen haben. Ging zumindest mir so.
Auch der Zeichenstil war sehr oft wir von Kinderhand gezeichnet - das mag der Stil des Zeichners sein, mich hat er eher in den Augen geschmerzt.
Trotzdem: wer sich für das Thema interessiert, und die Hintergründe kennt, für den ist dieser Comic eine tolle Ergänzung.
War ganz interessant, aber wer sich im Vorfeld nicht schon mit der Biographie von Feynman auseinandergesetzt hat, wird mit den ganzen Orts- und Personenwechsel so seine Problemchen haben. Ging zumindest mir so.
Auch der Zeichenstil war sehr oft wir von Kinderhand gezeichnet - das mag der Stil des Zeichners sein, mich hat er eher in den Augen geschmerzt.
Trotzdem: wer sich für das Thema interessiert, und die Hintergründe kennt, für den ist dieser Comic eine tolle Ergänzung.
August 12, 2020
Δεν έχει καλή δομή, δε σε κάνει σοφότερο και μετά τις πρώτες 50 σελίδες κάνει μια κοιλιά 150 σελίδων..
Και εξηγώ. Οι πρώτες 200 σελίδες εξιστορούν τη ζωή του(καθόλου δομημένα) και σε 5 σελίδες μας εξηγεί τη θεωρία που του έδωσε το Νόμπελ.. μέσα σε 5 σελίδες δε μπορεί κάποιος να την κατανοήσει αλλά ούτε να φτάσει καν κοντά!
Η μόνη αστεία ατάκα του κόμικ είναι η απάντηση του ταξιτζή στον Φάινμαν, αποδεικνύοντας άλλη μια φορά ότι ο συγκεκριμένος κλάδος είναι ο μοναδικός ο οποίος κατέχει τα κλειδιά της γνώσης του κόσμου!
Δεν προτείνεται..
Και εξηγώ. Οι πρώτες 200 σελίδες εξιστορούν τη ζωή του(καθόλου δομημένα) και σε 5 σελίδες μας εξηγεί τη θεωρία που του έδωσε το Νόμπελ.. μέσα σε 5 σελίδες δε μπορεί κάποιος να την κατανοήσει αλλά ούτε να φτάσει καν κοντά!
Η μόνη αστεία ατάκα του κόμικ είναι η απάντηση του ταξιτζή στον Φάινμαν, αποδεικνύοντας άλλη μια φορά ότι ο συγκεκριμένος κλάδος είναι ο μοναδικός ο οποίος κατέχει τα κλειδιά της γνώσης του κόσμου!
Δεν προτείνεται..
October 11, 2019
Wow. So I barely know who Feynman was. His books are on my to-read lists but I've never been all that compelled to read them. But I've read quite a few biographies. And quite a few graphic novels. And even a certain number of graphic novel biographies. I read this one because a couple of months ago I discovered First Second publishing and I've been reading down there catalog. And frankly I picked this up just to take a break from Canterbury Tales - I wasn't expecting much.
But I loved this book. It was detailed but not slow. It contained enough to feel like I actually got to know this guy. Okay I had seen the movie. But I didn't remember that the movie was about Feynman until his girlfriend got sick. There are hints in this book that Feynman might have been considered in today's terms a lech or womanizer - and this book dodges that if it's true.
Did this book do justice on Feynman's physics? don't know. But it definitely left me with the idea of someone who was in love with discovery.
But I loved this book. It was detailed but not slow. It contained enough to feel like I actually got to know this guy. Okay I had seen the movie. But I didn't remember that the movie was about Feynman until his girlfriend got sick. There are hints in this book that Feynman might have been considered in today's terms a lech or womanizer - and this book dodges that if it's true.
Did this book do justice on Feynman's physics? don't know. But it definitely left me with the idea of someone who was in love with discovery.
October 31, 2018
Una manera genial de descubrir a un físico de lo más peculiar. El cómic en sí tiene muchas pegas, el dibujo es a veces primo hermano de Shin Chan y la historia a veces se pierde entre anécdotas, pero el mero hecho de que exista un cómic sobre un físico donde te explique las bases de sus experiencias en electrodinámica cuántica eso... eso no tiene precio.
Lo devuelvo a la biblioteca con ganas de conocer más a fondo al señor Feynman.
Lo devuelvo a la biblioteca con ganas de conocer más a fondo al señor Feynman.
January 24, 2020
I can´t express how much I enjoyed this graphic novel.
Feynman was an amazing person.
Feynman was a genius.
Feynman was a really good guy.
This book captures all of this and much more.
If you are into physics, you are going to learn a lot (or become confused as fuck, cause QED is confuse! And that´s ok, as Feynman would put it!)
I hope, one day, my kids read this book with the same joy I did.
Yes, there is hope in mankind, because we still have amazing persons around, we just need to find them and listen :)
LOL, I almost forgot: the authors are amazing too, they did something beautiful, honest and truthful to Feynman!
Feynman was an amazing person.
Feynman was a genius.
Feynman was a really good guy.
This book captures all of this and much more.
If you are into physics, you are going to learn a lot (or become confused as fuck, cause QED is confuse! And that´s ok, as Feynman would put it!)
I hope, one day, my kids read this book with the same joy I did.
Yes, there is hope in mankind, because we still have amazing persons around, we just need to find them and listen :)
LOL, I almost forgot: the authors are amazing too, they did something beautiful, honest and truthful to Feynman!
September 28, 2016
Open a comic book and you step into a world of superheroes. In the late twentieth century, few cultural heroes were more super than Nobel Prize physicist-educator-safe cracker Richard Feynman. So what if he didn’t don a cape, stop bullets with his bare hands, or wear his underpants outside his trousers. He revolutionized our understanding of how light works, helped build the first atomic bomb, solved the Challenger mystery, and played some pretty mean bongos. Most remarkably, though, he brought the squiggly world of quantum physics within the ken, if not complete understanding, of dingbats like me.
Now Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick have brought Feynman’s enthusiasm for explanation to a whole new audience of proto-physicists. Their graphic biography, simply titled Feynman (2011), may have been written for an adolescent audience, but it hooked me (a semi-centenarian) and held me for a full afternoon of absolute reading pleasure. The kid in me was fascinated by the illustrations, easy language, and humor. My more cerebral self was engrossed with the science, and touched and roused by Feynman’s attitudes. Feynman’s optimism and energy are infectious, and his curiosity about things outside his specialty — art, language, Tuva — may prompt you to visit a few new stacks the next time you’re in the library. My only regret is that the authors, artists and writers themselves, didn’t probe Feynman’s interest in these topics as deeply as they could have.
When you’ve read this colorful life, will you understand gravity, quantum electrodynamics, or the rules of a happy marriage? Nope, but you may look at your reflection in the mirror in a whole new light, and that rainbow pattern you see on your DVDs may mean more to you. And you may approach your own arcane mysteries with a renewed spring in your step and a better sense of how to explain to others why you’re interested in something that they probably find hideously abstruse.
If you end up liking this comic book version of Feynman’s life, try one of Feynman’s own quirky autobiographies, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What other People Think? And the (almost complete) bibliography at the end of this book will point you to plenty of other Feynman resources in print and on line.
Now Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick have brought Feynman’s enthusiasm for explanation to a whole new audience of proto-physicists. Their graphic biography, simply titled Feynman (2011), may have been written for an adolescent audience, but it hooked me (a semi-centenarian) and held me for a full afternoon of absolute reading pleasure. The kid in me was fascinated by the illustrations, easy language, and humor. My more cerebral self was engrossed with the science, and touched and roused by Feynman’s attitudes. Feynman’s optimism and energy are infectious, and his curiosity about things outside his specialty — art, language, Tuva — may prompt you to visit a few new stacks the next time you’re in the library. My only regret is that the authors, artists and writers themselves, didn’t probe Feynman’s interest in these topics as deeply as they could have.
When you’ve read this colorful life, will you understand gravity, quantum electrodynamics, or the rules of a happy marriage? Nope, but you may look at your reflection in the mirror in a whole new light, and that rainbow pattern you see on your DVDs may mean more to you. And you may approach your own arcane mysteries with a renewed spring in your step and a better sense of how to explain to others why you’re interested in something that they probably find hideously abstruse.
If you end up liking this comic book version of Feynman’s life, try one of Feynman’s own quirky autobiographies, Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What other People Think? And the (almost complete) bibliography at the end of this book will point you to plenty of other Feynman resources in print and on line.
May 17, 2014
A brilliant book about a brilliant human being. I'm insanely jealous of the art--Leland Myrick's drawings are deceptively simple, done with an economy of line and an energy that makes them look like spontaneous sketches, but each one carries at least a thousand words-worth of storytelling, conveying a setting, a likeness, or a telling gesture without using a single line more than is absolutely necessary to do so. The line work is perfectly complemented by Hilary Sycamore's color work, an important contribution because of the narrative function that color serves throughout.
The book freely goes backward and forward in time (the in media res "chapter" headings can include as many as 3 years, not necessarily in chronological order.) This gives the book a kaleidoscopic structure with no established "present", a situation that could have easily whirled away into chaos if it wasn't for the use of specific color palettes for specific time periods. The colors are always noticeable enough to easily signal a change in time without ever overwhelming the delicate line work, a balancing act that Sycamore pulls off beautifully.
Jim Ottaviani allows Richard Feynman to tell his own story mostly through his own words (for all I know, they may all be direct quotes--it's a tribute to the writing that I really can't tell!) Who better to tell it?
This would be a wonderful introduction to Richard Feynman for anyone discovering him for the first time and a great read for anybody who's already had the pleasure. The partial bibliography at the back has given me a great reading list, too!
The book freely goes backward and forward in time (the in media res "chapter" headings can include as many as 3 years, not necessarily in chronological order.) This gives the book a kaleidoscopic structure with no established "present", a situation that could have easily whirled away into chaos if it wasn't for the use of specific color palettes for specific time periods. The colors are always noticeable enough to easily signal a change in time without ever overwhelming the delicate line work, a balancing act that Sycamore pulls off beautifully.
Jim Ottaviani allows Richard Feynman to tell his own story mostly through his own words (for all I know, they may all be direct quotes--it's a tribute to the writing that I really can't tell!) Who better to tell it?
This would be a wonderful introduction to Richard Feynman for anyone discovering him for the first time and a great read for anybody who's already had the pleasure. The partial bibliography at the back has given me a great reading list, too!
September 19, 2011
I don't think I can recommend this book enough for anyone really. If you like math, or physics, and of course Feynman at all, you should give it a read, but even without those interest, Feynman's life was a pretty interesting. From meeting Einstein as a graduate student to working on the Manhattan Project to winning a Nobel Prize in Physics, he always brought his weird sense of humor to it. For anyone who doesn't like math or physics, there is about 20 pages broken into two sections that are VERY Physics intensive, but you could probably skip over these and not miss much. Feynman's life is the one I wish I had, and makes me wish I stayed working on degree my in Mathematics.
Before I read the book, I was hesitant about it. I saw some art from it and it seemed very simplistic newspaper comic strip style, but as soon as you start reading it you forget all about it, and it works perfectly for the subject matter. The story is written pretty much as if Feynman was giving a talk about his life with a lot of afterthoughts. What makes a good non-fiction book good for me is that when I'm done and I look over the bibliography I think, "sure I'll read that too", and the one in this book is great as the writer put in the sections or times of life in each entry.
Before I read the book, I was hesitant about it. I saw some art from it and it seemed very simplistic newspaper comic strip style, but as soon as you start reading it you forget all about it, and it works perfectly for the subject matter. The story is written pretty much as if Feynman was giving a talk about his life with a lot of afterthoughts. What makes a good non-fiction book good for me is that when I'm done and I look over the bibliography I think, "sure I'll read that too", and the one in this book is great as the writer put in the sections or times of life in each entry.
March 29, 2017
The obvious question before reading this book is "Why do a comic book about a theoretical physicist?" The obvious answer after reading it is, "Why the hell not?" Aside from being one of the top thinkers in science in the 20th Century, Richard Feynman was such a goofball that he was practically a cartoon character in real life. In the graphic novel, I kept waiting for his imaginary pet tiger to show up.
The biography is mostly, but not completely, linear as it skips through Feynman's life. What's great about the comic book format is that it lets more character and personality slip through than you'd necessarily get from dry text. Feynman, through visual cues, expression, and the unique pacing of the "sequential art" format, successfully paints a more vivid portrait of the man, complete with all his human foibles and weaknesses, than I've come across before. One interesting choice in the book was to narrate it in 1st person, in effect treating it as an auto-biography. Given that there's so much of Feynman's own writing about his life to draw from, I think the authors were able to get away with that without fictionalizing their subject.
The biography is mostly, but not completely, linear as it skips through Feynman's life. What's great about the comic book format is that it lets more character and personality slip through than you'd necessarily get from dry text. Feynman, through visual cues, expression, and the unique pacing of the "sequential art" format, successfully paints a more vivid portrait of the man, complete with all his human foibles and weaknesses, than I've come across before. One interesting choice in the book was to narrate it in 1st person, in effect treating it as an auto-biography. Given that there's so much of Feynman's own writing about his life to draw from, I think the authors were able to get away with that without fictionalizing their subject.
July 24, 2015
I don't know all that much about physics, but part of what I do know is that Richard Feynman is good at explaining physics to people who know nothing about it. He's also really funny, so I decided I was going to track down some of his books and see what I could learn.
You will note this book is not by Feynman, though it quotes him extensively. I decided to learn about him first and get some context for what I'd learn later. Also my friend was reading it and I wanted to talk to her about it.
So! Feynman is a graphic biography of Richard Feynman, with numerable asides into physics and the sciences. It quotes Feynman at length, as I've said, which means it's not only funny as hell but comprehensible and clear even to a layperson such as myself. The graphics are clean and well-done and the lettering equally so. I think my main difficulty with the book was how it jumped around in time; I sometimes found it difficult to follow. In general, though, I really liked this. It's entertaining, lots of fun, and educational to boot.
You will note this book is not by Feynman, though it quotes him extensively. I decided to learn about him first and get some context for what I'd learn later. Also my friend was reading it and I wanted to talk to her about it.
So! Feynman is a graphic biography of Richard Feynman, with numerable asides into physics and the sciences. It quotes Feynman at length, as I've said, which means it's not only funny as hell but comprehensible and clear even to a layperson such as myself. The graphics are clean and well-done and the lettering equally so. I think my main difficulty with the book was how it jumped around in time; I sometimes found it difficult to follow. In general, though, I really liked this. It's entertaining, lots of fun, and educational to boot.
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