If the author had read Feynman's biographies, he would have released that the man did essentially anything for fun. Most of which seemed to be an endless one-up game with his friends and colleagues.
The simple fact is that people have lost interest in scientists and people with brilliant minds. Who cares what scientist came up with what, Jon & Kate broke up, Brangelina went to the toilet five minutes ago . . . pop culture has degraded so far, the antics of a scientist are tame by the standards of whomever the media has decided to follow. Which starlet purposefully forgot to wear underwear this week, or what female tennis player had some creep ass photographer take a photo up her skirt while she was playing.