If you love Richard Feynman you've got to watch this video...
... where Angela Collier will ruthlessly dissect the mythology he built around himself. You probably won't agree with everything she says, and you may hate some of it, but it will still be thought-provoking.
I didn't know about what she calls "Feynman bros": lazy male students who read Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. Feynman! and try to adopt the flashy womanizing persona he depicts there, instead of working hard on physics. I can easily believe they exist. So if you know a youngster who likes physics, don't give them that book. Instead do what my uncle did: give them The Feynman Lectures on Physics.
I didn't know these books and indeed every book 'by Feynman' was actually written by his Caltech colleague Robert Leighton or his son Ralph Leighton based on audiotapes of lectures or conversations. I still don't know how much of a role Feynman had in crafting these concoctions.
I *did* know that he once flew into a rage and tried to choke his second wife.
I did not know he was good with children, eagerly answering letters from them, etc. It's nice that Collier points out this good side.
I *did* notice, from his anecdotes, that he put a huge amount of work into trying to seem like a manly man rather than a nerd.
I didn't fully notice that almost none of his anecdotes feature the famous physicists he worked with at the Manhattan Project. Collier points out that this leaves him free to make things up.
I think she overlooks how he eagerly *points out* that he used tricks to seem smart. He explains the tricks to show they're not so hard.
I could go on....
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@johncarlosbaez I feel like she is falling in the same trap as do the fanboys- that is painting somebody as a 100% hero or a 100%villain. And the same mistake would be to settle and say he is 50-50.
History is messy and there are no clear narratives. He did some awful things and he did some great ones. And he shouldn't be anybody's hero, and yet he can teach us some important things.
