Paul Dirac, the man Oppenheimer described as a Theoreticians Theoretician, was one of the key figures in quantum physics. Considering just how reserved Dirac was it it impressive that the author managed to write 500+ page book about him. Of course because of this, his story is mostly told through his ground braking work on quantum mechanics and through his friends and colleagues, and their reactions to his cold exterior (a lot of amusing anecdotes here).

He only spoke when he knew exactly what he was going to say and with such clarity that more than a few words were often unnecessary. His need for clarity and mathematical beauty is best shown with his colleagues reaction upon receiving his work: "as if they were already finished marble statues that descended from the heavens." Also his textbook on Quantum mechanics that he wrote in the 30s is admired and in print still to this day.

Unfortunately his need for mathematical beauty has stifled him in his later life, that he ended up just like Einstein in that they both couldn't except new developments in physics, but were humored because of their stature.

An finally, in the later chapters the author discussed in good taste the elephant in the room considering Diracs behavior and emotional coldness, meaning his very probable autism. He believed that beside his tragic childhood this also had to be mentioned in order to clearly understand this man, but he also clarified that we can never be absolutely sure of this.