Myths are born or they are made?
Reading this one looks like a myth making. This is full of anecdotes and statements from the friends and colleagues for Feynman. Plus it explains a lot of scientific ideas which it is not as good as Feynman would have loved it to be.
Feynman singlehandedly changed the whole understanding and perception of quantum physics/mechanics. He prepared the ground for the future researches in this field. But the most important part of his legacy is his teaching. He somewhere claimed that he couldn't prepare his students in the best way possible but his lectures are one of the most amazing source of learning physics. Maybe he couldn't nourish the curiosity in others as well as he did for himself for which he gave credit to his parents.
It was difficult to believe a lot of instances where he come up with solutions over a night which others were struggling for months or years, but this is not a unique thing that one generally hears about someone labelled as genius. When I was reading Mozart's biography as well, one of the key point which the writer mentioned from the reference of different sources was that he could do a lot of things in parallel to music making. He could dance, play pool, and while away but still making music in his head.
Does these abilities come naturally or we pick them up at the very young age? Feynman said he was not brilliant but just studied hard. This was easy to say if you are Feynman.
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