An interesting read, but not well balanced. There is a great deal of emphasis on Feynman's early years as a student at MIT and Princeton, but a lack of detail from about 1962 to 1986. Perhaps this is a reflection of his career and when his major contributions to science took place. The chapters on the Manhattan Project were very engaging and I am now happily slogging my way through "The Feynman Lectures on Physics" (which I was not previously aware of, despite having previously read Feynman's own "auto-biography"). Overall, I would agree with the comments from a reviewer on Goodreads: "it was interesting, but most of the same information is available in more-engaging form elsewhere."

An excellent biography of a singular person. This biography includes (about 50%) the scientific questions that Feynman pursued in his career. This biography is very well written and entertaining. Some previous knowledge of physics will definitely help. Worth reading if you are interested.

James Gleick's prose, vocabulary and style is on par with great fiction writers. He uses his Harvard University training in English to show scientific topics and scientists, often shunned as boring, as extremely interesting. It is no wonder that his peers voted him as a Pulitzer Prize Finalist three times. He has won two National Book Awards. For those who want to learn about Feynman's brilliance, personality, life and science this is a great read. Gleick, apart from being a joy to read, just for his creative style, does not shy away from showing and explaining the quantum physics. At times the reader needs to put on some intellectual running shoes if they want to try to understand the subject, which is part of the genius of who Richard Feynman was. Kudos to Gleick as a great popularizer of science and its heroes.

Finalist of the 1993 Pulitzer prize for biography.