Episode · Freakonomics Radio · 2026-05-27
Books mentioned on The Brilliant Mr. Feynman (Update)
What happens when an existentially depressed and recently widowed young physicist from Queens gets a fresh start in California? We follow Richard Feynman out west, to explore his long and extremely fruitful second act.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Genius
Genius by James Gleick is a definitive 1992 biography of the renowned theoretical physicist Richard Feynman, chronicling his scientific contributions, eccentric personality, and complex personal life.
Discussed“For years, Feynman had cultivated a reputation as a womanizer of the worst sort. James Gleick, in his book Genius, reports that while he was teaching at Cornell, Feynman slept with undergraduates and the wives of graduate students.”
Where to get it
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Genius : the Life and Science of Richard Feynman
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick chronicles the brilliant, unconventional life and profound scientific contributions of the legendary physicist.
Discussed“For years, Feynman had cultivated a reputation as a womanizer of the worst sort. James Gleick, in his book Genius, reports that while he was teaching at Cornell, Feynman slept with undergraduates and the wives of graduate students.”
Where to get it
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The Feynman Lectures on Physics
The Feynman Lectures on Physics is a foundational three-volume textbook by Richard Phillips Feynman that captures his celebrated undergraduate introductory physics course at the California Institute of Technology.
Discussed“Feynman officially taught an undergraduate class only for 2 years. And those were captured by some now famous books called The Feynman Lectures on Physics. They're three big red books.”
Where to get it
