Want to learn the ideas in Genius better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of Genius by James Gleick here.

Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.

Video Summaries of Genius

We’ve scoured the Internet for the very best videos on Genius, from high-quality videos summaries to interviews or commentary by James Gleick.

1-Page Summary of Genius

Overview

Richard Feynman was a brilliant physicist, but despite his many contributions to physics he is not a household name. He wasn’t the kind of scientist who came up with one major theory; rather, he offered physicists different ways to look at the world and various methods for finding solutions through practical approaches. This contribution has helped make physics what it is today.

This is the story of a physicist named Richard Feynman. He was born in 1918 and played an important role in the development of physics throughout his career. His influence can be felt today, as he’s well-known for his work on quantum physics and superfluidity. In addition to being a brilliant scientist, he also worked on one of the most famous projects – one that pushed science forward while also resulting in mass destruction during World War II.

In this passage, you’ll learn that Feynman’s father was a science teacher and encouraged him to pursue the same path; how he won the Nobel Prize in physics; and why his lectures are still popular today.

Big Idea #1: Richard Feynman had a great childhood. His parents encouraged him to think scientifically.

Richard Feynman’s father predicted that Richard would become a great scientist. He was right, but this had to do with the way he raised his son.

Herman Melville was a second-generation European who immigrated to upstate New York. Because he was Jewish, he felt like his options were limited, so he worked as a salesman and put all his hopes in his son Richard. As a result, Richard grew up seeing the world with scientific eyes. By the time Richard could talk, his father encouraged him to visualize things using tiles that contained geometric patterns; later on they would go visit museums together where Melville would translate facts into images for his son by telling him that dinosaurs were big enough to reach their bedroom window but then told him that the head of one dinosaur wouldn’t fit through it because it was too big.

Melville also taught Richard about the importance of understanding how things work and what they’re actually doing. One day, while hiking, Melville asked Richard to identify each bird they came across. If Richard didn’t know the name of a bird, Melville would give it three different names in Chinese, Portuguese and Italian. He was showing that depending on where you are in the world there will be many different names for one thing without knowing anything about what it is or does. Later Feynman applied this lesson when he served on a committee to review science textbooks for children. The books were written with vague language such as “friction causes shoe soles to wear away.” Feynman pushed for more detailed explanations such as “the grooves on a sidewalk grip chunks of shoe leather and tear them off.”

Big Idea #2: Feynman used the same approach to solve math problems as he did with physics.

Although Feynman did well in his algebra classes, he had trouble with other subjects. He felt more comfortable taking part in the math competitions held by the Algebra League.

In most math classes, students are required to show their work as they solve a problem. However, in math competitions, it is important not to show your work. It’s more important that you get the right answer than how you got there because these competitions are very fast-paced and using traditional methods may take too much time. Feynman was great at this because he was taught to use visualization as a way of solving problems when he was young. Math competitions were perfect for him because they allowed him to do what he did best: visualize the solution and write down only his answer before moving on quickly with the next problem without showing his work like everyone else had to do.