The Strangest Man

The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom

By: Graham Farmelo

Narrated by: B. J. Harrison

Length: 19 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Paul Dirac was among the great scientific geniuses of the modern age. One of the discoverers of quantum mechanics, the most revolutionary theory of the past century, his contributions had a unique insight, eloquence, clarity, and mathematical power. His prediction of antimatter was one of the greatest triumphs in the history of physics.

One of Einstein's most admired colleagues, Dirac was in 1933 the youngest theoretician ever to win the Nobel Prize in physics. Dirac's personality is legendary. He was an extraordinarily reserved loner, relentlessly literal-minded, and appeared to have no empathy with most people. Yet he was a family man and was intensely loyal to his friends. His tastes in the arts ranged from Beethoven to Cher, from Rembrandt to Mickey Mouse.

Based on previously undiscovered archives, The Strangest Man reveals the many facets of Dirac's brilliantly original mind. A compelling human story, The Strangest Man also depicts a spectacularly exciting era in scientific history.

©2009 Graham Farmello (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• 2009 Costa Book Award (Biography)
• 100 Notable Books of 2009 (New York Times)
• Books of the Year 2009 (The Economist)
• Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Science & Technology, 2010

"Farmelo proves himself a wizard at explaining the arcane aspects of particle physics. His great affection for his odd but brilliant subject shows on every page, giving Dirac the biography any great scientist deserves." ( Publishers Weekly)

"A must-read for anyone interested in the extraordinary power of pure thought. With this revelatory, moving and definitive biography, Graham Farmelo provides the first real glimpse inside the bizarre mind of Paul Dirac." (Roger Highfield, Editor, New Scientist)

A wonderful story

I loved the science aspect, as I have always been interested in particle physics. But, the story of Dirac was just as fascinating.

Great book

The book was great at telling the story of one of the most dedicated Physics student, teacher and scientist.

The Quiet Genius

This was my first book about Dirac. Graham Farmelo has written a wonderful story about someone whom little is written. I did not care for the narration by B. J. Harrison. I bought the hardback and found it hard to put down. The narrator seemed to have trouble with the text and was too slow and boring.
I could not finish the audible version.

Fascinating

An absolutely great book about an absolutely fascinating and brilliant man. I loved it. The book was very well written and the narration was just as good. In addition to being a biography on Dirac, it was also an incredible history lesson on early 20th century physics.

fascinating

great insight into a leading mind in physics. riveting story. could not stop listening to it.

Fantastic telling of difficult topic

What did you love best about The Strangest Man?

The author did an excellent job of keeping the technical details of Dirac's work to a minimum, yet still providing good insight about Dirac's work. And the author actually did a great job of building some suspense pertaining to Dirac's life.

What other book might you compare The Strangest Man to and why?

The topic of Dirac's life is called "The Strangest Man" for good reason. There really is very little to compare him to.

Interesting, though it took persistence to finish

It was well researched and tells the story in a pretty matter of fact way. It loses momentum here and there but kept me engaged enough to finish, and I feel I know more about Dirac, his work, and ihis context in the bigger picture of physics it's most fascinating times. I do recommend it.

Captures well the “quirky” character of Dirac

I found much entertainment in this biography written by someone who knows how to tell a story by showing, not by telling. Captures well the “analytically introvert man”!

Good book, annoyed by a few mispronunciations

Some important terms and people's names were pronounced incorrectly.
Fission should pronounced like Fishin', not Fizshun as in fusion, kind of important in the book.
It's John Von NOY-mann, not new-mann.

Very interesting portrait...

of a lesser-written-about genius of quantum mechanics theory. Like Einstein, Goedel, Oppenheimer, Feynmann and others, Durac was an oddity, which often led to aggrivation, misunderstanding and inadvertantly humorous situations when he tried--mostly unsuccessfully to deal with other humans. If you are interested in physics or just want to add another name to your "famous people with Asperger's" list, this book is entertaining and enlightening.