Genius

What in the what was that final paragraph?
“Then he returned home, as he now knew, to die.”
Feynman was a rockstar of physics. He veered slightly out of the main, cultivated an animated persona, cherished approaching problems freshly and intuitively, he worked through several bouts of rare cancer forms, and was very very human. Lives lived like his are rare and will never occur again.
It is worth noting that he was above all human. His story is worth knowing because it shows how flawed he was and that he was a predatory sexist person. He aided in many military scientific developments (like all at Los Alamos) that lead to great war crimes (even if the science paved the way in other uses, Los Alamos was used to make a fist and beat the opponent into a bloody submission before we could be beaten and it was another instance of letting fear, paranoia, and greed tainting our development as humans.). When he was at Los Alamos he was what we consider to be a “young man” or a boy (late stage child?) in his 20's. It is inconceivable how this person lived and existed. A fascinating human story that doesn't fit the 438 pages of this book.

A note: if you come across someone playing the role of apologetic to Feynman's behavior, then they may not have the ability to appreciate an individuals achievements/existence without mythologizing/idolizing them. That's not a desirable trait for inquisitive minds to find in someone. (IE: don't let the person off the hook. Confront them that behaviors and acts can be condemned and that they shouldn't idolize individuals. It creates a sense of excusing predatory behaviors by writing them off as acts that a par for individuals of those time's. Playing what about-isms in order to avoid seeing the past/history as vividly as we can only does us a disservice to our own understanding and intellectual growth.)

Took me a while to finish. Even though I enjoyed it. But not as much as other Gleick books. Why? Possibly some of the physics went over my head. Despite the book balancing Feynman's work and more personal stories quite well. Or possibly because Feynman did so damn much in his carreer that it felt hard to hold on to a narrative thread.