quit your day job.

I don’t possess the qualities that make somebody a genius, but I know them, and love them, when I see them. And they’re exemplified on every page of Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman.

It’s easy to think of Richard Feynman as a genius because he lives up to the stereotypical standard, but also because he defies it. I think that, more than any one of his spectacular achievements, the most noteworthy element of Feynman’s story is the paradoxical nature of his life. He was the serious physics professor who rose to the top of the food chain at Los Alamos and won the Nobel Prize. But he was also a bongo-playing hipster who hung out at the Esalen hot tubs and picketed the closing of a strip joint. He was all of these things, and more, effortlessly, and yet worked hard to develop and maintain his legend.

But then, as the book points out, genius itself is something of a paradox, immanent and transcendent at the same time. Transcendent, in that the quality itself seems foreign to most, and that folks most deserving of the label seem hesitant to say the word in exactly the same way that some religious folks don’t use God’s name. Immanent, not only in the way that the fruits of genius are felt in a very real way, but, more importantly, in that most of the time those who produce them assert that their gifts are attainable by anyone.

The book notes that no particular physical characteristic exists for true genius, and also that, while there are psychological characteristics that come up (an early brush with death, ambitious and frustrated parents, sensible shoes), there are just as many exceptions to the rule as there are confirmations. It really does seem to be a matter of inclination and choice. I’m going to go with Feynman’s example. Look for what’s interesting and undiscovered and follow it. Take no prisoners.

I love his absolute impatience for anything other than stimulation. Everything was a game, the object of which seemed to be to get at the truth behind the experience. Every game was played with the same intense, take-no-prisoners passion that every child is born with. People or institutions who sought to insinuate themselves into that dynamic, to make their processes and ideals more important than the play, to force the child to grow up, were treated with amazing contempt.

Life doesn’t have to be hard, but it absolutely should be work. Brilliance is just a matter of looking for truth with innocence, intensity, and complete faith that answers exist.