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Leland Myrick
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Feynman Kindle Edition

by Jim Ottaviani (Author), Leland Myrick (Illustrator) Format: Kindle Edition
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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

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  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
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  4. Publisher
    First Second
  5. Publication date
    June 4, 2013
  6. File size
    205444 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Product Description
Richard Feynman: physicist . . . Nobel winner . . . bestselling author . . . safe-cracker.

In this substantial graphic novelbiography, 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.

A Look Inside Feynman
(Click on Images to Enlarge)

Review

“These images capture with remarkable sensitivity the essence of Feynman's character. The comic-book picture somehow comes to life and speaks with the voice of the real Feynman.” ―Freeman Dyson, The New York Review of Books

“Spectacular.” ―The Horn Book, starred review

“...a penetrating and insightful biography” ―Washington Independent Review of Books

“Challenging and thought-provoking” ―VOYA review

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00CVNLK3K
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ First Second; 1st edition (June 4, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 4, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 205444 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • Customer Reviews:

About the authors

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  1. Leland Myrick

    Leland Myrick

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    Leland Myrick is the Ignatz Award- and Harvey Award-nominated author and illustrator of The Ten (Kingdom of Graves Book One), Mark of the Blooded (Kingdom of Graves Book Two), The Sweet Collection, School Girls, Bright Elegy, Feynman and Missouri Boy. First of a novel trilogy, The Ten was named to Kirkus Reviews "Best of 2012." His writing and illustrations have appeared in publications as diverse as Random House Books, Dark Horse Comics, GQ Japan, Vogue Russia, Flight, and First Second Books. His most recent graphic novel, Feynman, written by Jim Ottaviani, is a New York Times #1 Bestseller and named to Horn Books Best Books of 2011. He is a school psychologist and lives in Altadena, California.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Jim Ottaviani

    Jim Ottaviani

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Jim Ottaviani has worked in news agencies and golf courses in the Chicago area, nuclear reactors in the U.S. and Japan, and libraries in Michigan. When he's not doing these things, he's spraining his ankles and flattening his feet by running on trails. Or he's reading. He reads a lot. Elsewhere on the web you can find him at www.gt-labs.com .

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
239 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the visual style wonderful and excellent. They also describe the storyline as amazing, with amusing anecdotes. Readers appreciate the great information in an engaging format. They describe the character as wonderful and the biography as wonderful.

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Visual styleStorylineContentCharacterEnjoymentBiography
21 customers mention "Visual style"15 positive6 negative

Customers find the book wonderfully illustrated, using close-ups and color to highlight key words and moments. They also say the book is well written and illustrated composition of Feynman's life.

"...It is a fascinating story, wonderfully illustrated. I gave it to my nephew, and he didn't put it down till he finished it. Great stuff!" Read more

"...There are evocative close-ups of Feynman's father teaching him to appreciate and truly understand nature during walks in the park, of Feynman..." Read more

"...But, my friends, the comic is hard to read and hard to watch. The text is incomprehensible to me, and the pictures are difficult to perceive...." Read more

"...This well done and mostly easy-reading graphic "biography" tells the Feynman story with Feynman as narrator...." Read more

16 customers mention "Storyline"16 positive0 negative

Customers find the storyline amazing, terrific, and amusing. They also say the book contains many anecdotes that allow them to explore Feynman's life.

"...It is a fascinating story, wonderfully illustrated. I gave it to my nephew, and he didn't put it down till he finished it. Great stuff!" Read more

"...It's a wonderful story - read it, get it, savor it." Read more

"...But no. His book is much easier and more interesting to read than this comic. I'm sorry, creators and colleagues, for the critical review." Read more

"...The Feynman story as told by Feynman is a terrific story, even if his contemporaries might have quibbled with pieces here and there...." Read more

11 customers mention "Content"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's content great, engaging, and imparts a heightened sense of importance to the words. They also appreciate the resource section at the end.

"...it for myself to preview it, and found it perfect - great information in an engaging format...." Read more

"Captivating, insightful, amusing, and heartfelt" Read more

"...device which is commonly employed in comic books imparts a heightened sense of importance to the words in a way that would not be evident on simply..." Read more

"...Regardless, it's a good, topical intro to Feynman's life that will likely spur nascent Feynman fans to move on to tackle some of his other works." Read more

5 customers mention "Character"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the character wonderful, and praise the book for capturing the personality and spirit of Feynman beautifully. They also say it's an excellent effort from talented people.

"...It tries really hard and is an excellent effort from some clearly talented people, but every few pages it just made me want to break out "Surely..." Read more

"...Feynman is shown in a positive light with a both humorous and poignant look at an extraordinary man...." Read more

"...Gave this to her for Christmas. Great gift. Wonderful man." Read more

"An amazing story and amazing man. Superb story and entertaining approach. Just read the story, you will not be disappointed." Read more

5 customers mention "Enjoyment"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book entertaining, fun, and captivating. They also mention that they enjoy the comic format.

"Captivating, insightful, amusing, and heartfelt" Read more

"...by James Gleick, but the old material is presented in a novel, entertaining manner...." Read more

"This autobiographical sketch in graphic-novel form is an entertaining and informative introduction to the life of an important American physicist..." Read more

"An amazing story and amazing man. Superb story and entertaining approach. Just read the story, you will not be disappointed." Read more

4 customers mention "Biography"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the biography wonderful, describing Mr. Feynman's quirky sense of humor. They also say the authors are uniquely qualified for this endeavor, having already penned graphic novels.

"...Both authors are uniquely qualified for this endeavor, having already penned graphic portraits of Niels Bohr, Robert Oppenheimer and Leo..." Read more

"Wonderful biography of Mr Feynman, describing his quirky sense of humor and his career." Read more

"Richard Feynman graphic novel is a great addition to the biography section...." Read more

"Very enjoyable biopic..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

Cygnet
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview of Feyman
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2020
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This is a graphic novel about one of the greatest physicists that ever lived. It is a fascinating story, wonderfully illustrated. I gave it to my nephew, and he didn't put it down till he finished it. Great stuff!
3 people found this helpful
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pc
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2012
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I am a middle school life science teacher, who this year will also be teaching Physical Science. I have used graphic novels in my classes for years: Jay Hosler has some wonderful titles which the students enjoy reading 10 times better than the textbook (and get the same, if not better, information.) So, I was looking for a great graphic novel for my physical science honors students, and I came across "Feynman." I bought it for myself to preview it, and found it perfect - great information in an engaging format. I've written a grant for a class set for my students, and I just know they will love it.
6 people found this helpful
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Matt Walton III
5.0 out of 5 stars A sensitive and superb rendering of Richard Feyman's endlessly fascinating life.
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2023
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Captivating, insightful, amusing, and heartfelt
One person found this helpful
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Ashutosh S. Jogalekar
4.0 out of 5 stars The beat of a different drum hums from these pages...
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2011
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With his colorful personality and constant propensity to get into all kinds of adventures, Richard Feynman is probably the perfect scientific character to commit to comic book form, so in one way this graphic novel is long due. What is remarkable is how powerfully Ottaviani and Myrick harness this unique medium to accurately dramatize the life and qualities of this genius. Both authors are uniquely qualified for this endeavor, having already penned graphic portraits of Niels Bohr, Robert Oppenheimer and Leo Szilard.

Ottaviani and Myrick manage to capture the essential characteristics that made Feynman such a cherished teacher, scientist, friend, colleague, and public personality. Most importantly, the book succeeds in vividly bringing out Feynman's quintessential quality of almost obsessively staking out his own iconoclastic path both in science and in life. The biography is really a memoir akin to "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman" since it features Feynman's own account of his life, work and intellectual development. The great strength of the book is that it uses close-ups and color to highlight key words and moments from Feynman's life. While the biographical information in the book has been covered in other works and most notably in Feynman's own memoirs, the comic book form has a very different impact because of the combined literary-visual effect it has on the viewer.

For instance, in describing Feynman's time at Los Alamos, one can actually see people's bewildered faces as they struggled to comprehend both his genius in solving intractable physics problems and his wildly successful attempts at safe-breaking. There are evocative close-ups of Feynman's father teaching him to appreciate and truly understand nature during walks in the park, of Feynman encouraging his sister to learn science and his wonderful and tragic relationship with his first wife. Also included are Feynman's strip-club forays (during which he solved physics problems), his famous dunking of the Challenger space shuttle's O-rings into a glass of cold water to demonstrate their failure (again rendered much more dramatic by the graphic medium) and some fairly detailed albeit brief discussions of his pioneering work in quantum mechanics.

I was especially convinced of the power of the graphic form during the parts dealing with Feynman's lectures about scientific wonder and humility. As he paced the podium at Caltech and stressed the importance of holding oneself to an absolute standard of integrity, successive panels of the book zoomed in on his face. This device which is commonly employed in comic books imparts a heightened sense of importance to the words in a way that would not be evident on simply reading them. The other idea used in the comic medium is to intersperse the narrative with divergent panels; for instance, Feynman's eloquent description of science as a great game of chess intersects with snapshots of a chess game played by two people in a park where his father has taken him for a walk.

The minor gripe I have with this comic account is that the faces of different characters are sometimes not easily distinguishable. In addition the narrative would have had a bigger impact if the characters resembled their real life counterparts. But these minor points detract little from the volume's novelty. Ottaviani and Myrick have done a wonderful job in making a unique scientist and human being come alive in these pages. With the mountains of literature written about Feynman one would think that there's nothing new that could be said or done. But this "dramatic picture" of Richard Feynman, as his friend Freeman Dyson calls it, will occupy a proud place on the shelves of Feynman fans. Knowing his fondness for fun, Dick would undoubtedly have approved.
32 people found this helpful
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Ossi H
5.0 out of 5 stars Makes me want to have met Feynman
Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2023
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Wonderful biography of Mr Feynman, describing his quirky sense of humor and his career.
One person found this helpful
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NFF235711131719
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful little book on Feynman that pulls bits from many different sources
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2014
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It's easy to underestimate a comic book that purports to tell a history. That would be a shame in this case - this book is clearly a labor of love, and pulls in bits of Feynman's life from so many different sources that you are almost guaranteed to find something new even if you're a prior fan of Feynman's (e.g. his speech to his High School's graduating class of 196?). It's a wonderful story - read it, get it, savor it.
One person found this helpful
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Masataka Yamashita
5.0 out of 5 stars My hero Feynman
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2011
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I didn't know him until I bought "Surely you're joking, Mr.Feynman!" around 1989. At that time, I even didn't know he was a Nobel prize winner. However, when I read the part "Uh wugga wuh, Uh wugga wuh," in the early part of the book, I laughed out loud for several minutes. That was when he became one of my heroes. Since then, I have read as many books on him as I could. So, I didn't expect too much on this book "Feynman" , except for one particular reason that it is a comic book.
But I was wrong. This "Feynman" has everything I have read in all those previous books! Even illustrated Feynman's expressions tell me his emotions that printed words failed to describe, and hand written words of him miraculously sound as his real voice in my brain!
I can't tell you should read this comic "Feynman" first, then all those books on him, or vice versa. At least I know of is, this "Feynman" is a "MUST" .
4 people found this helpful
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Yatska
1.0 out of 5 stars The comic is hard to read and hard to watch :-(
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2023
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Inspired by reading a book by Mr. Feynman himself, I decided to buy a comic based on the biography of the brilliant scientist. But, my friends, the comic is hard to read and hard to watch. The text is incomprehensible to me, and the pictures are difficult to perceive. Although, theoretically, this format should have been more exciting and entertaining than the regular text written by Feynman himself. But no. His book is much easier and more interesting to read than this comic. I'm sorry, creators and colleagues, for the critical review.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Eduardo Carrilho
2.0 out of 5 stars Não me satisfez
Reviewed in Brazil on January 9, 2023
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Nao gostei do estilo do desenho, pode ser que haja quem goste, mas não me agradou, definitivamente.
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Robert Ley
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 28, 2021
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I don't often write reviews but I enjoyed this book so much that I felt it would be wrong not to say something. Just so you know where I am coming from: I've a formal education in physics, have long been a huge fan of Feynman, and I have read all the other books. But I put off reading this one because I just couldn't see what I would get from reading a graphic novel (no offence meant to those who love reading graphic novels but they're just not for me, personally). Or at least I thought not, anyway. Because this one is just beautiful. That is the best way I can describe it, really: it is so beautifully executed. It brings to life all the stuff I already knew/read about Feynman in a beautiful and sensitive way. And that's the thing: I suspect to really appreciate it you would probably have to have read a bit about Feynman before reading this. You don't have to know about physics (will comment a bit more on that below), but to get the most from it I think you would have to have at least read a little about the life of Feynman. But then perhaps I am biased by the fact I had! Who knows?

I have read reviews on here suggesting hat this book might be aimed at physicists, so I wanted to comment on that: there are no equations used (other than as background art) and you don't need to know anything about physics. However, I do think it is an easier read for those who have some knowledge (but not necessarily a formal education) of (quantum) physics to accept some of the crazy unintuitive ideas of QED, the theory for which Feynman jointly won the Nobel Prize. There is a part of the book where QED is explained in layman's terms (a similar but very much abbreviated approach to that taken in the Sir Douglas Robb lectures for those familiar with them) and I think it is executed absolutely brilliantly, but I am mindful that I am stating that as someone who has studied the subject! But, that caveat aside, I think anyone who is able to stick with it and 'accept' that that is how nature is will be fine. And that is what we all have to do: as Feynman makes clear none of us understand it. We just accept that that is how nature is.
4 people found this helpful
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gera
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente libro
Reviewed in Mexico on April 8, 2020
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El libro llegó en buenas condiciones.
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shivam rai
5.0 out of 5 stars review by a fan
Reviewed in India on July 17, 2017
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richard feynman is my teacher , he taught me science through his writings so i am his biggest fan
and this graphic novel is the best........ i learned one more theory in simple words......and now i am even more motivated.
One person found this helpful
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Matthias N.
5.0 out of 5 stars interessant und flüssig zu lesen
Reviewed in Germany on April 3, 2017
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mit Herzblut gemaltes Projekt, das Themen leichter zugänglich macht, als eine Textwüste, trotzdem anspruchsvoll genug. Nicht für Kinder sondern wirklich Interessierte.
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