Graphic biographies are different from regular biographies.
They don't list as many specific details or facts. They don't go into as much
depth or history. But they are, in general, easier and more fun. This quality
encourages you to pick them up, even when they're about people many readers
haven't heard of...like Richard Feynman, a genius in the field of
quantum electrodynamics who worked with Einstein and Oppenheimer. This 248-page
graphic bio will keep you entranced from start to finish, mostly because
Ottaviani (writer) and Myrick (illustrator) tell the very human story behind
Feynman, who, it turns out, did everything from help create the atomic bomb to
unearth the causes of the Challenger space shuttle disaster⎯all with a sense of humor so goofy and
endearing that you can't help falling in love with him. The real emphasis of
the book is on how he lived (the loves; the odd hobbies, like safe cracking) as
much as on what he accomplished. Like most people, he went through a lot⎯nursing his wife through a fatal disease,
struggling with loneliness and alcohol⎯but
always approached these periods with an eccentricity and tenderness that even we
lesser minds can learn from.
