Most biographies of Feynman are really hagiographies of Feynman, who was no doubt a great showman. Here's a collection of his letters, which, despite revealing some personal flaws, show that he is wiser and more vulnerable than we imagine. Really underrated in my opinion.
(The letters to family and Wolfram is also there.)
Another good one, in my opinion, is a rather raw portrait made from the vantage point of a student towards the end of Feynman's life. It's the unvarnished details that reveal the ordinariness and greatness of that physicist dude.
I think Feynman really believed that anybody could become as (wise? accomplished? happy?) as he, and I think most books don't do justice to that dream of his, by making him out to be some kind of trickster god.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465023711/
(The letters to family and Wolfram is also there.)
Another good one, in my opinion, is a rather raw portrait made from the vantage point of a student towards the end of Feynman's life. It's the unvarnished details that reveal the ordinariness and greatness of that physicist dude.
http://www.amazon.com/Feynmans-Rainbow-Search-Physics-Vintag...
I think Feynman really believed that anybody could become as (wise? accomplished? happy?) as he, and I think most books don't do justice to that dream of his, by making him out to be some kind of trickster god.