Feynman's Rainbow: A Search for Beauty in Physics and in Life.

AS a Ph.D. fellow at Caltech in the early 1980s, Mlodinow occupied an office among those of some of the world's leading physicists, including Murray Gell-Mann, John Schwarz, and Richard Feynman. Mlodinow says he found that he didn't really belong. Moreover, no new ideas were coming to him to advance his thesis. He began to doubt himself and his future. One day, he worked up the nerve to knock on the door of his inspiration-Feynman--who welcomed him and subsequently entered into a dialogue with him over the next couple of years. In those discussions, Mlodinow queried Feynman about his thoughts on how a scientist thinks, the nature of creativity, and how people know whether they have what it takes to compete and become an accomplished thinker and researcher. Those who know of Feynman can imagine the answers, which are profound and offbeat. Mlodinow taped his conversations and shares transcripts of them here, along with what the dying Feynman imparted about life to a young, lost scientist. Warner, 2003, 171 p., hardcover, $21.00.