"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character [Paperback]

Richard P. Feynman (Author), Ralph Leighton (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 2001

The New York Times bestseller: sequel to "Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!"—funny, poignant, instructive.

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, which he prepared as he struggled with cancer. 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. 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A thoughtful companion volume to the earlier Surely You Are Joking Mr. Feynman!. Perhaps the most intriguing parts of the book are the behind-the-scenes descriptions of science and policy colliding in the presidential commission to determine the cause of the Challenger space shuttle explosion; and the scientific sleuthing behind his famously elegant O-ring-in-ice-water demonstration. Not as rollicking as his other memoirs, but in some ways more profound. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Roughly half of these 21 short, colloquial essays deal with Feynman's firsthand investigaton of the Challenger space-shuttle disaster. He casts himself in the role of intrepid detective, and the first-person singular pronoun keeps intruding on the worthwhile things he has to say about flight safety and lack of communication within NASA. An appendix offers his chilling technical observations on the shuttle's reliability or lack of it. The remaining pieces are mostly a blur of international conferences, purveying slight anecdotes. But two essays touch genuine depths of feeling: his tribute to his father, who taught him to cultivate a sense of wonder, and his account of his love affair with his first wife (who died). In this posthumous miscellany, theoretical physicist Feynman displays only sporadically the adventurousness that captivated readers of Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (January 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393320928
• ISBN-13: 978-0393320923
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #3 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( F ) > Feynman, Richard
  • #45 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Scientists

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

116 of 118 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars We should ALL care what RPF thinks! July 27, 2002

By D. Roberts VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Here is another book of wonderful biographical anecdotes of one of the most intriguing scientists who has ever lived. However, those who are looking for merely a continuing edition of the tremendously popular (not to mention hilarious!) SURELY YOU'RE JOKING MR. FEYNMAN should take note: this present work does not qualify as that.

To be sure, there are a handful of chapters which would fit right into SYJMF. However, 2 major sections cover some exceptionally serious topics which are hardly material for Feynman's typical humor. One section details his love for his first wife as well as her untimely terminal illness. The other covers his work on the commission to disinter the technical problems that led to the explosion of the Space Shuttle CHALLENGER in 1986. These major sections encompass roughly 3/4 of the book.

The chapter on his wife's suffering is especially poignant and touched me very deeply. Feynman was a man whose love and compassion matched his intellect. I could not but feel empathy and admiration for the way he took care of his bride, knowing all along that she would not live long. His decision to be straight with her about her condition, instead of feeding her some fairy-tale story about how she had a good chance of recovery, was both painful and edifying to read.

The section on the CHALLENGER goes into great detail on everything that went wrong that fateful day in '86 as the nation watched the disaster on TV. To this day, I have not seen a television documentary cover this story as I think it should be covered.

I recently saw a special on the CHALLENGER on the DISCOVERY channel. It did an excellent job of focusing on how the engineers at THIOKOL were screaming at NASA not to launch, well into the wee hours of the morning of the catastrophe. However, what the special omitted was the cover-up and closing-of-ranks that NASA did AFTER the accident. To me, NASA's behavior after the fact was even more reprehensible than its carelessness before the launch.

It was for the reason of politics that then-president Ronald Reagan personally requested that Feynman be on-board the investigation committee [a committee that also included the astronauts Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride, among others]. Reagan knew that Feynman would get to the bottom of the matter (which he did) and that Feynman did not care for the politics of making NASA "look good" (which he didn't).

With this in mind, even people who are not interested in Richard Feynman, but are curious about what happened to the CHALLENGER would gain much by reading this book. Feynman explains his thorough, logical methodology and how it rubbed many people the wrong way. His straight-forward and honest disclosures of NASA's gerrymandering created much animosity between himself and NASA exec William Rogers (who, it seems, was more interested in NASA's image than getting to the heart of the matter). For those who are interested in further reading on the CHALLENGER topic, I would recommend NO ORDINARY GENIUS: THE ILLUSTRATED FEYNMAN ...

For Feynman enthusiasts, this book is vintage Feynman - a can't miss. As a bonus, the center of the book has photographs from his life, as well as some of his sketches. The book is equally recommended for people who wonder about what "really" happened to the CHALLENGER, and why it happened. NASA aficionados may be disappointed in the work as it exposes (truthfully) all of the fudge-factors, apathy for safety issues and faulty reasoning NASA used with the efficacy of launching CHALLENGER on time and preserving its positive image after the fact.

52 of 57 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Richard Feynman: contemporary Leonardo - PART II July 22, 2001

By Manny Hernandez HALL OF FAME

Format:Paperback

The title of this review may sound as a little bit of an overstatement, given Leonardo Da Vinci's stature, but it is a very close way to depict this distinguished North American physicist who, among MANY other things, won the Nobel Prize, worked in Project Manhattan (at Los Alamos lab) and was part of the team that investigated (and discovered) the cause of the explosion of the Challenger. If this could already be enough to elevate him a lot, you'll discover through this book how his life was constituted by one of the most interesting and rich cultural mosaics one can imagine.

Always struggling to look at things "differently", Feynman became a very sought-after educator, teaching at the United States most prestigious universities, as well as other schools in places like Brazil.

At the end of the day, Feynman's most important teachings might come as: 'Never take yourself too seriously' (as other reviewers have already commented), 'Always keep an open mind' and 'Focus your efforts on what really matters'.

If you enjoy this book (which I'm sure you will), check out what could be considered the first part of it: 'Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!' : Adventures of a Curious Character; as well as Tuva or Bust! Richard Feynman's Last Journey - both, highly recommendable.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars More Feynman May 23, 2001

By Pumpkin King

Format:Paperback

A sort of sequel to "Surely You're Joking...," this book has fewer laughs but still kept me fascinated by the mind of Richard Feynman. "Surely You're Joking..." was filled with short humorous anecdotes, not necessarily related, coming together as a sketchy autobiography. "What Do You Care..." is a little different in form and has two main themes: Feynman's relationship with Arlene, his first wife, and his challenges with the Challenger space shuttle investigation.

In this book, as opposed to "Surely You're Joking..." we get stories that we can follow for a longer time, and so there is a little more depth to them. Arlene's character is described more fully here, so we can understand their relationship better, and that was interesting. But I was more drawn to the Challenger story, which consists of his difficulties in finding information on the causes of the explosion while having to deal with bureaucracy and the unscientific minds of management. Sure, there must be tons of biases in here (he's a very opinionated guy), but Feynman's adventures are nonetheless filled with wonderful insights about life and science. And the last chapter, "The Value of Science" deals with things that many have forgotten or have never learned about science, doubt, and integrity.