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"What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character Paperback – January 17, 2001

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

4.6 2,220 ratings

Book 2 of 2: Feynman Series

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

Book 2 of 2

Feynman Series
Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

January 17, 2001
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches
ISBN-10

0393320928
ISBN-13

978-0393320923
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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.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (January 17, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393320928
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393320923
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #797,783 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,556 in Scientist Biographies
- #2,688 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)
- #23,169 in Memoirs (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 2,220 ratings

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Richard P. Feynman
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Richard P. Feynman was born in 1918 and grew up in Far Rockaway, New York. At the age of seventeen he entered MIT and in 1939 went to Princeton, then to Los Alamos, where he joined in the effort to build the atomic bomb. Following World War II he joined the physics faculty at Cornell, then went on to Caltech in 1951, where he taught until his death in 1988. He shared the Nobel Prize for physics in 1965, and served with distinction on the Shuttle Commission in 1986. A commemorative stamp in his name was issued by the U.S. Postal Service in 2005.
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Ralph Leighton
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Ralph Leighton (born 13 November 1949) is a biographer, film producer, and friend of the late physicist Richard Feynman. He recorded Feynman relating stories of his life. Leighton has released some of the recordings as The Feynman Tapes. These interviews became the basis for the books Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! and What Do You Care What Other People Think?, which were later combined into the hardcover anniversary edition Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character. Leighton is an amateur drummer and founder of the group Friends of Tuva. In 1990 he wrote Tuva or Bust! Richard Feynman's Last Journey.
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4.6 out of 5

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John Jonelis

Delightful

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2023

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30 years ago, I read this and Feynman's other book of stories to my young son as bedtime stories. (Now he programs automated machines.) I'm so glad to have read them again to myself! What a delight! That this legendary scientist can write with such humor and joy lifts my soul. God bless Richard Feynman.

2 people found this helpful

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MikeVB

Great conclusion to a great story about one of America’s greatest scientist

Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2023

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Please see my previous review on Feynman’s autobiography “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” This book is the conclusion of his two book autobiography and gives a deep dive into the workings and conclusions of the Rogers Commission report on the Challenger disaster. It was a frustrating experience for Professor Feynman dealing with NASA management who were always spinning a line but who knew relatively little about the science they were professing. Their assessment of Shuttle safety of flight (Probability of Success) was grossly optimistic (since they did not consult with their own engineers whom Feynman highly respected). This oversight enraged him (he had a fiery temper) especially since schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe was never told the full extent of the dangers riding the Shuttle. An excellent read. Highly recommend.

5 people found this helpful

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D

Not as good as the first one, but still pretty good

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2022

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Worth reading

One person found this helpful

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C.W. Estes

Funny and serious memoir by physicist Richard Feynman

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2023

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I wish this were a new 2nd edition, but the used book was in good condition, and the print was dark and large enough.

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Umer Vakil

Fails to disappoint. A great sequel!

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2011

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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!

24 people found this helpful

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Morgan Witthoft

Erratic, with beautiful epilogue; read Surely You're Joking first

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2009

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If you're a Feynman fanatic, you're sure to enjoy this even though the content is erratic and not as good as Surely You're Joking.
If you haven't read Surely You're Joking, read that first. It's better.
Okay, you're back from SYJ. Are you a Feynman fan now? If not, then skip this book. If yes, then you'll probably buy this book anyway just to get your hands on anything Feynman.
The beautiful epilogue (a Feynman speech on the value of science) is the best, and those half dozen pages made me feel I got my money's worth in the purchase of the book.
The section on the space shuttle investigation was pretty good, but you can find a better treatment of the subject (and a whole lot more good reading) in Ed Tufte's book, Visual Explanations.

13 people found this helpful

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Lynn D

Must Read!!

Reviewed in the United States on August 17, 2023

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Feynman was an extremely popular teacher as well as a world class scientist. He has a great sense of humor and makes learning fun.

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D. Durnwald

A very pleasing and informing book

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2010

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"What Do You Care What Other People Think?" is a very good book. It is well written, and keeps you interested. It also is very informative. There are also moments in the book that are moving. Like the way he handles his brides' deathly sickness and how he still treat her well, even though they both know she is going to die soon. Then when the story switches to the science parts, you can really learn a lot. The investigating that is done about the exploding space ship, The Challenger, and NASA is very informative and interesting, how NASA, made the poor decision of not postponing the launch. I would deffinatelly recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a good book, and learn about interesting science at the same time. I gave this book a 4 out of five because it's interesting while at the same time you learn about interesting science topics.

2 people found this helpful

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Juan Zapata

Excelente

Reviewed in Mexico on August 1, 2023

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Una lectura amena y simple. Nos recuerda que la genialidad esta en todos y que no tiene que estar tan entronizada y parecer inalcanzable.

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anderson

Muito interessante!

Reviewed in Brazil on September 18, 2021

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A book that explains some points of Richards’ life, such as, your wife e her illness. I never understood how he worked in Los Alamos in this situation and this book shows this.
Of middle the book ahead there is the Richards’ point of view about the Challenge investigation. Very interesting!

ab

Wonderful book

Reviewed in Germany on January 26, 2024

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Highly recommended and highly enjoyable

Shashank

Book is awesome (&flawless) but quality is very poor.

Reviewed in India on September 18, 2023

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Even though the quality of the book is very very poor and cheap, i just can't bring myself to rate this book any less than 5 stars. I don't think any other seller would sell any different. I hope i find a good quality of this in a offline bookstore. The book is really awesome. It's not exactly like the 1st part: SYJMF , but great in it's own way. Feynman is my biggest inspiration.