11 Books You Never Thought You'd Read (but Will Fall in Love with Instantly)

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.