What Do You Care What Other People Think?: Further Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman (PDF)

Description

The New York Times best-selling sequel to “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” One of the greatest physicists of the twentieth century, Richard Feynman possessed an unquenchable thirst for adventure and an unparalleled ability to tell the stories of his life. “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” is Feynman’s last literary legacy, prepared with his friend and fellow drummer, Ralph Leighton. Among its many tales―some funny, others intensely moving―we meet Feynman’s first wife, Arlene, who taught him of love’s irreducible mystery as she lay dying in a hospital bed while he worked nearby on the atomic bomb at Los Alamos. We are also given a fascinating narrative of the investigation of the space shuttle Challenger’s explosion in 1986, and we relive the moment when Feynman revealed the disaster’s cause by an elegant experiment: dropping a ring of rubber into a glass of cold water and pulling it out, misshapen.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review “Feynman’s voice echoes raw and direct through these pages.” – James Gleick, The New York Times Book Review About the Author Richard P. Feynman (1918–1988) was a professor at Cornell University and CalTech and received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1965. In 1986 he served with distinction on the Rogers Commission investigating the space shuttle Challenger disaster.Ralph Leighton lives in northern California.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Although not a scientist, I often find myself using Feynman’s principles when examining a problem. Too much of today’s pseudo science revolves around how we “feel” about something, and scientific objectivity takes a back seat. For example, the hysteria surrounding climate change and the absolute certainty (“the science is settled”) espoused by many “experts” about what terrible things lie in front of us 80 years in the future just doesn’t stand up to a rational and sober analysis. The last couple pages of this book talk about how much we do not know about the world, and those who think they know, expose their ignorance. Feynman said: “Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts.” I agree.

⭐Worth reading

⭐Just absolutely wonderful – another collection of anecdotes from Feynman’s life. The first part of the book almost seems indistinguishable from ‘Surely You’re…’, using the same style of narration to present details of incidents. These ‘incidents’ are often unconnected and span from childhood recollections from Feynman’s life and his original encounter with Arlene (his wife) to the time he spent during a trip to Brazil. Each story is amusing whilst managing to provide a deeper glimpse into the erratic, comical yet intelligent character of Feynman.The second and greater part of this book deals with Feynman’s presence on the committee investigating the 1986 crash of the Space Shuttle Challenger, capturing the incredible dissatisfaction felt by him as he is plunged into the administrative bureaucracy of Washington and NASA. The descriptions of the shuttle and its faulty components are illustrated clearly with the help of figures and photographs. These illustrations help the reader visualize the circumstances of the crash and where the the major fault within the shuttle actually lay. These are particularly helpful in eliminating any ambiguity in the description of technical rocket components (O-rings, etc). Despite the serious content, this part of the book retains the strong elements of humor found within rest of the book. It manages to paint a ludicrous picture of the way things tended to be handled in NASA (e.g. NASA informing an official that the probability of failure of an manned rocket is 1 in 100,000 which implied that “you could fly the shuttle every day for an average of 300 years between accidents- every day, one flight, for 300 years- which is obviously crazy!”). He also points towards the general errors made by large organizations such as NASA due to the divide between levels of management by narrating personal conversations with the management, engineers and workers. The perspicuous manner with which he describes his involvement in the investigation almost makes the reader feel as if he were right alongside Feynman while he was dealt the task of investigating the crash.I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed “Surely You’re Joking…” and is willing to put his mind to a bit more work to enjoy the second part of the book. Overall, it is a great book that any Feynman fan will be willing to appreciate!

⭐By recalling and retelling episodes of his life, Feynman offers us a detailed insight on his unique approach to view the world and solve its problems. An approach that is rooted in doubt (not artificial certainty) and in a desire/love to understand the world at its most fundamental level. In the current decade where one seems to have given up on this ideal of being able to understand the world at its fundamental level, this serves as an example, a beacon that hopefully would inspire many to follow his lead and counter react the current superficial black/white attitude to solve the world’s problems.The following quote from the book illustrates this perfectly: “Our freedom to doubt was born out of a struggle against authority in the early days of science. It was a very deep and strong struggle: permit us to question—to doubt—to not be sure. I think that it is important that we do not forget this struggle and thus perhaps lose what we have gained. Herein lies a responsibility to society.”In many ways, Feynman’s view of the world is very similar to Elon Musk’s who has turned this not in a scientific but a commercial success.The book also offers a detailed review of the way the commission operated that investigated the accident with Space Shuttle Challenger.Highly recommended!

⭐I’m biased.I love just about everything Richard Feynman. After reading “Surely you must be joking…” in high school, I was fascinated by the man who seemingly shattered the preconceptions of what a scientific personality was like.During my college years I had a physics professor who spoke somewhat disaparagingly of him, with particular focus on how he thought that Professor Feynman’s views on women were distasteful at best.After reading a few books now, I think this idea is not very accurate. He may have had some predispositions that were pretty common during the time-period of his young adult life, but this book made me feel like I finally understood his capacity for love and devotion. Unless I find out something really crazy, I think my physics professor was misled at some point.This book was much more intimate than anything else I had read. Those of us with engineering education tend to miss out a bit on the human side of the heroes of science. I recommend to anyone who wants to know more about what I consider the most extraordinary human mind that the world has ever known.And btw:In the Description link on the product page, the Publishers Journal seems to recommend that readers skip the first parts of the book and just read about the Challenger anecdotes. I hope a robot wrote that review, because they’re suggesting you forego the most poignant and fundamentally human side of the man. I struggle to comprehend how even the most detached of people would offer this as a suggestion. A bit disturbing, imo.

⭐I always enjoy Feynman’s books. This is my third and i’ve purchased a couple more. The second half is an interesting discussion of the Challenger incident investigation and his involvement.If you are not into Science or Physics you needn’t worry his books are easy to read and you will probably learn something.

⭐Wonderfully put together collection (as with the other main Feynman book) indeed about a curious character. Even the double entendre of the cover header is great. I have a vagie feeling that our/your Mr Feyman would and may still run foul of todays woke mania… but read it…get real…and be thankfull for both the book and him. (and the author/compiler actually) Highly reccomended.

⭐Having read

⭐Genius: Richard Feynman and Modern Physics

⭐I’d discovered the fascinating work and life of Richard Feynman and was keen to learn more. This is the second of two books Feynman wrote. I happened to come across this book first and perhaps I’ve read them in the wrong order, no matter.The book is autobiographical, but in a typical spirit of nonconformity is not a biography. Rather it is a collection of anecdotes written about episodes in Feynman’s life. The first half of the book is a selection of these short stories, in no particular order, each describing in a matter of fact fashion an aspect of Feynman’s life. Each as a side effect provides an insight to his thinking and attitude to life and learning. Clearly this material was a key resource for James Gleick’s work and I had the feeling that these were stories which didn’t find their way into Feynman’s previous book `Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman’. As a consequence Gleick’s book provides a more rounded and complete picture which ties these snippets together. However Feynman’s book has more to offer.The second half of the book has a detailed account of the work on investigating the cause of the Challenger Shuttle disaster. This description will be of interest to anyone who wants to find out the technical details of just what went wrong, but more interestingly has some fascinating insights into the afflictions that can infect the thinking of large organisations. In the case of NASA this led to mistaken understanding of safety and risk, which when compounded by poor communication between management and staff created a widespread blind spot, which extended well outside NASA, about the challenge and dangers of space flight. There are lessons here for any organisation, which even if they don’t surface as safety issues, will undoubtedly have impacts in some aspect of the organisation’s performance.On a personal note, I’ve left the best bit of the book until last, appropriately because it is the last nine pages. Here is reproduced a public address given in 1955 to the National Academy of Sciences titled `The Value of Science’. Feynman gives a brilliant description of the absolute and essential role of exploration in creating advance, and the fact that non-scientists have little comprehension of the real learning process by which this advance is made. For me this short concluding section of the book was worth the price alone, illustrated by the books concluding paragraph..”It is our responsibility as scientists, knowing the great progress which comes from a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance, the great progress that is the fruit of this freedom of thought, to proclaim the value of this freedom; to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed and discussed; and to demand this freedom as our duty to all coming generations.”In short, if you want to find out about Feynman, Genius is a more complete read, having read that you may be inspired to read this book to find out more. However if you want to learn of lessons from the Challenger disaster, or simply read the description of exploration in `The Value of Science’,this is a book well worth reading.

⭐Having read

⭐Genius: Richard Feynman and Modern Physics

⭐I’d discovered the fascinating work and life of Richard Feynman and was keen to learn more. This is the second of two books Feynman wrote. I happened to come across this book first and perhaps I’ve read them in the wrong order, no matter.The book is autobiographical, but in a typical spirit of nonconformity is not a biography. Rather it is a collection of anecdotes written about episodes in Feynman’s life. The first half of the book is a selection of these short stories, in no particular order, each describing in a matter of fact fashion an aspect of Feynman’s life. Each as a side effect provides an insight to his thinking and attitude to life and learning. Clearly this material was a key resource for James Gleick’s work and I had the feeling that these were stories which didn’t find their way into Feynman’s previous book `Surely You’re Joking Mr Feynman’. As a consequence Gleick’s book provides a more rounded and complete picture which ties these snippets together. However Feynman’s book has more to offer.The second half of the book has a detailed account of the work on investigating the cause of the Challenger Shuttle disaster. This description will be of interest to anyone who wants to find out the technical details of just what went wrong, but more interestingly has some fascinating insights into the afflictions that can infect the thinking of large organisations. In the case of NASA this led to mistaken understanding of safety and risk, which when compounded by poor communication between management and staff created a widespread blind spot, which extended well outside NASA, about the challenge and dangers of space flight. There are lessons here for any organisation, which even if they don’t surface as safety issues, will undoubtedly have impacts in some aspect of the organisation’s performance.On a personal note, I’ve left the best bit of the book until last, appropriately because it is the last nine pages. Here is reproduced a public address given in 1955 to the National Academy of Sciences titled `The Value of Science’. Feynman gives a brilliant description of the absolute and essential role of exploration in creating advance, and the fact that non-scientists have little comprehension of the real learning process by which this advance is made. For me this short concluding section of the book was worth the price alone, illustrated by the books concluding paragraph..”It is our responsibility as scientists, knowing the great progress which comes from a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance, the great progress that is the fruit of this freedom of thought, to proclaim the value of this freedom; to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed and discussed; and to demand this freedom as our duty to all coming generations.”In short, if you want to find out about Feynman, Genius is a more complete read, having read that you may be inspired to read this book to find out more. However if you want to learn of lessons from the Challenger disaster, or simply read the description of exploration in `The Value of Science’,this is a book well worth reading.

⭐This is a follow on from Feynman’s first book “Surely you are joking Mr Feynman”. It sort of picks up from where the other left off, but about half of the book is devoted to his activities as part of the panel investigating the Challenger Shuttle disaster.What I did find odd was that he seemed surprised at the behaviour and reaction of the others on the same panel; many of his comments indicate a level of bewilderment at the way that things were done and how the process was carried out. From his previous book, I would have expected him to be a lot more savvy towards the nature of those that work much more in the public sector. I wonder if he was in fact playing a double game; knowing exactly what he faced, but then pretending a level of frustration to indicate that he was not part of the same set-up. Of course, we will never know, but it is interesting to speculate.Both parts of the book are well worth reading, and this book is one that will probably require more than one viewing.

⭐Unlike the other Feynman book I reviewed, this does have a definite storyline that provides an inside view of a number of various events about which we mostly only know the headlines. Two of the most notable of these were the Manhatten Project and the Challenger Investigation.However, it also shows the matter of fact approach by both Feynman and his first wife to her terminal illness, though unless you have similar strength of character, it won’t act as a blueprint in similar circumstances. They were both remarkable people.I do recommend this book, even though written by a man who was way above the intelligence level of most of us, because he also had the ability to engage lesser mortals by his clarity of explanation.

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