Feynman - Graphic Novel

Published by First Second, 2011, hardcover, 256 pages, illustrated, first blank page missing otherwise condition: basically as new,

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.

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!