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

by Richard Feynman

Paperback, 1993

Status

Available

Publication

HarperCollins (1993), Edition: New edition, 256 pages

Description

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. Here, he offers the last installment of his literary legacy.

User reviews

LibraryThing member claude_lambert

All the scientists I know are fond of Feynman's books. I think it is because we recognize ourselves in the enthusiasm and curiosity he has for science - and for anything in nature. The 2 books ("Surely, you're joking, Mr Feynman" and "What do you care what other people think") are collections of

stories told by Richard Feynman and collected by his friend Ralph Leighton. There is no science in these books, just stories told with an inimitable sense of humor and sense of style. At the same time, these stories are unique: they tell you how a scientist thinks.
I tagged "What do you care.." as a "life changing book" for two reasons. First, it does encourage you to do things your own way. Second, it shows a way out when you are prisoner of a system. Feynman became a member of a commission in charge of discovering the reasons of the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle in 1986. As usual, there was the official aim (find the cause) and the political view (let us support NASA); this happens in science more than you would imagine. You find yourself in committees that are supposed to do one thing, but in fact do something else. It can be very frustrating. Feynman found a way to do what he thought was right. You got to read this: it tells you how you can win against all odds.

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LibraryThing member iayork

A curious character indeed, and furious: The book does not give as much pleasure and joy as 'Sure you're joking...", however the section on shuttle crash analysis is of highest interest and justifies alone the reading.

LibraryThing member melydia

This was the first Feynman book I've ever read, a fact which is a touch embarrassing given that I have a degree in Physics. It was also probably not the best book to start with, since it is possibly the last book he ever wrote (it was published posthumously). All the same, I thoroughly enjoyed it

and now want to pick up everything else he's written. The first part is a variety of stories from his life about his childhood, his first wife, etc. The second and longer part is about the investigation of the Challenger explosion. Having been too young at the time to understand more than that a horrible tragedy had occurred, the descriptions of Feynman's attempts to get to the bottom of things are riveting. He's funny, brilliant, and a touch egocentric, and it all makes for a delightful read. Highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member pbirch01

Billed as the sequel to "Surely You Must be Joking Mr. Feynman", "What Do you Care..." ends up being more like the leftover scraps slapped together in a book form rather than a bona fide sequel. In "Surely...", we were introduced to Richard Feynman, a "Curious Character" who was both curious about

physics and a curiously unique man who had many different kinds of adventures. The first hundred or so pages of this book brings us back to that character with stories that are entertaining but not quite as incredible as the stories from "Surely...". The last 150+ pages deal with Feynman's role on the commission investigating the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. These chapters turned a lighthearted and breezy read into a morose and gloomy mood. In addition to the somber nature of the Commission, the technical detail of the chapters as well as the actual report of Feynman cause the book to drag. In short, Feynman is an interesting character who was both intelligent and funny. I highly recommend reading more about him but this is not the best book to learn more about this Curious Character.

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LibraryThing member Steve55

Having read James Gleick’s book ‘Genius’ 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.

For example a story which sticks in my mind involves the reusable solid rocket boosters, which were at the root of the disaster. After each flight these would fall into the sea, be retrieved and refurbished for reuse. These rockets were 12 feet across and built in several tubular sections each around 40 feet long which had to be placed on top of each other and bolted together using 180 bolts. It was found that in joining these sections, quite naturally given their use, the sections would not be perfectly circular. On occasion this called for the use of a giant press which would squeeze the section to shape across a diameter that was oversize. To do this the workers had to ensure that the press was applied directly 180 degrees across the diameter. They would do this by counting 90 of the 180 holes holes used to join the sections together. With such a large structure, this meant a fair amount of climbing and there was the possibility of mistakes by miscounting and subsequent damage to the rocket. The workers came up with a solution - apply paint marks to four of the holes, each at 90 degree spacing. Now instead of having to count 90 holes, you simply have to count to and from the nearest paint mark to ensure the holes you select are 180 degrees apart. The probability of a mistake is dramatically reduced.

Feynman goes on to describe his incredulity at this solution being rejected by management as being too expensive! He learns however that it’s not the cost of the paint, but the cost of changing the manuals that describe the procedures, that prevents this improvement.

I fear that there are many organisations where these penalties of getting better make their management systems a ball and chain for the organisation.

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.

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LibraryThing member Devil_llama

Feynman is, as always, fun to read. This autobiographical work details some of the more personal moments of his life, and allows us a glimpse into the mind of a brilliant scientist who was also an eccentric human being.

LibraryThing member jocraddock

An interesting follow-up to "Curious Character," detailing first wife, includes children, and the Challenger disaster. While not the most enjoyable part of the book, the traits of personality and character that endear Feynman to the reader in "Curious Character" and part one of this book lead to

solid and just conclusions as part of the Commission.

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LibraryThing member xmaystarx

Love this guy! Read this one for a class now I need to re-read for fun.

LibraryThing member lilygirl

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has the smallest sliver of a sense of humor. I found myself frequently laughing out loud and thoroughly enjoying his quirky humor and insights into human behaviors.

LibraryThing member tpi

Not anywhere as good as the first part. About half of the book concerns shutle accident, and large parts of that os fairly boring. Also, there are a lot of Feynman's letters which are only of a minor interest - at least for me.

LibraryThing member Lady_Lazarus

I expected this to be about science and scientific way of thinking from a personal view-point offered by Feynman, but I was disapponted. Most of the stories are about his travels to scientific meetings and the situations he faces there- which vaguely touch the world of physics - and bureaucracy he

has to confront - nothing wrong with someone questioning it, but it shouldn't be the whole point.

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LibraryThing member TheMadTurtle

A good friend of mine turned me onto Feynman a couple of years ago with "Surely You Must Be Joking". I just finished this one over the New Year holiday. It's a great book!

I love Feynman and I love both of the two books I've read. The only thing keeping this from being a 5 star book, in my opinion,

is that I could swear some of the material in this book was also contained in "Surely You Must Be Joking". I could be wrong about that, though. They could simply be additional stories taken from the same time-frame in Feynman's life. The first half of this book, however, seemed to be either the same or very similar as the other book. With so many Feynman books on the shelves today, I wonder if this isn't a problem with many of the others as well.

The second half of this book is what really blew me away. For the most part, the second half of this book deals with Feynman's role researching the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Feynman's insights into beauracracy and the analogies to corporate America are spot on. And with the 20th anniversary of the disaster almost upon us, the material seemed somewhat timely as well.

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LibraryThing member ari.joki

Beautiful work of self-promotion. Feynman building his own legend.

LibraryThing member ptaff

After reading “Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman“, I could not wait for this follow-up. Unfortunately, this book scrapes the barrel of Feynman-related adventures and it shows — most stories look like they were rejected for the first book. Though the Challenger disaster investigation events as

experienced by Feynman could be a great idea on paper, the “plot“ feels stretched a lot, with way too much pointless detail. Unfortunately, this “detective story“ fills half of the book. Though Feynman remains a bright and smart man, the book just doesn't appear to reflect that as it did in “Surely”; we sure miss the wits a lot.

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LibraryThing member rondoctor

Excellent abridgement of the larger book "Classic Feynman".

LibraryThing member JeffV

Richard Feynman was quite the character in the world of 20th century physics. A graduate of Cornell, he won a Nobel Prize for his work in quantum electrodynamics. His career included development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos; and late in life, he was on the investigative committee determining

the cause of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. It was his work on that committee that comprises the bulk of this book, which is comprised of memoirs, some written shortly before his death by cancer in 1988.

Other parts of the book tell us more about Feynman as a person. He married his first wife, knowing she had incurable tuberculosis, and never was able to even kiss her. He talks some about adventures taken with his second wife, including visiting a remote inn in Japan where he had to convince the family that ran it to allow them to stay. Such stories help show us that Feynman lived a good life -- he was more than just a dedicated scientist and engineer.

His investigation and report of the Challenger disaster was the most prominent portion of the book. In the course of the investigation, he finds politically-motivated negligence, but also gives kudos to the engineers who tried to warn of problems prior to the launch. The most telling statistic was the administrators pinned the chance of catastrophe at 1/100,000; while the data presented by the engineers was at a more reasonable 1/100. Better still, the book was well-written in layman's terms; even when Feynman spoke of material properties, he did so in a manner understandable by all.

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LibraryThing member satyridae

This audio CD of Feynman's second collection of autobiographical bits is a lot of fun to listen to. The part about the President's Commission on the Challenger Shuttle disaster was very powerful and wryly funny. Feynman was such a scientist, so intent of finding things out that he simply ignored

the conventions, if he was even aware of them, and his wide-eyed, naive search for answers was always a delight. The only part of this book I didn't like is the appendix- which was the entire Feynman report on the shuttle disaster. In all its dry, NASA acronym-laden ponderousness, written by a theoretical physicist for consumption by engineers. That didn't make for interesting listening. That's a minor quibble, and I recommend this without reservation.

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LibraryThing member nandadevi

Feynman's reputation for being 'fun' and 'interesting' leads - I suspect - to some readers feeling a little disappointed by this (auto)biographical sketch, a follow up to his 'Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman'. The fact that this book starts with the story of the tragically early death of his first

wife should have put folks on alert that this isn't an entertainment. Feynman's reflection on his own numbness at her death, and on his time spent away from his second wife and his young children, and on his lack of social graces and naivety regarding political processes is laid down honestly and sometimes painfully. But it's all done in the a very restrained and muted voice, Feynman being the product of his time as much as he was the rebel against conventional expectations.

In some ways the title of the book carries a subtle irony, because it's evident that Feynman does 'Care', and these stories - episodes from his life - come back time and again to the often difficult and always awkward intersection between other people's feelings and Feynman's passion for science and truth. Far from being the 'scrapings of the barrel' of Feynman's life, these stories are carefully assembled to make a profound argument. That the death of his first wife, and of the deaths of seven astronauts aboard the Challenger Space Shuttle did not come about through a lack of collective knowledge or science, but from our inability - or unwillingness - to care for the pursuit of truth as much as we do for the feelings and reputations of ourselves and others. The intersection of science (and engineering) and everyday existence can be fun and much more interesting than we imagined, and we can thank Feynman for making that point, but it is also a serious business. As these stories relate it can also be a matter of life and death, of forestalling tragedy or walking blindly into it.

Recommended as a follow up to Feynman's 'Surely You're Joking...', but even more so for anyone with a deep interest in the role of science (and scientists) in society, and absolutely essential reading for anyone who is trying to understand the Challenger disaster and the process of disaster investigation.

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LibraryThing member phredfrancis

While there are some pieces here that feel like filler to create a follow-up to Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, the longer entries are as good or better than anything from that first collection of Feynman stories. I found the stories about Feynman's first wife to be very moving, and they

highlighted the emotional side the physicist more so than anything else in the two books. The real draw here is Feynman's account of his efforts on behalf of the commission investigating the explosion of the Challenger shuttle. That alone is worth the price of the book. I was surprised at how stirring it could be to hear about one man bucking bureaucracy in pursuit of the truth. If the whole book had come closer to that piece, this easily would have been a five-star rating for me.

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LibraryThing member themulhern

A bunch of autobiographical stories, told engagingly. About half of the book is essays about the enquiry into the space shuttle explosion. Feynman is irritatingly full of himself, but his lack of respect for received wisdom and authority figures is congenial.

He describes hitchhiking between Los

Alamos and Albuquerque back when he was working on the Manhattan project. I find it very hard to believe that an important scientist doing war work was allowed that kind of freedom or given that little support.

In his discussion of the space shuttle enquiry he makes some good points about the way bureaucracies can stifle communication about bad stuff. I work in a company with an accumulating bureaucracy, and I'm really one of the engineers on the bottom, so it is important to keep this in mind.

In his discussion about his first wife's tuberculosis he makes some good points about how authority can suppress enquiry; I already distrust doctors, so busy acting like they know what is going on.

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LibraryThing member jimocracy

I almost gave up on this book. The earlier chapters were uninteresting anecdotes about Feynman and frankly very obnoxious. He was a genius but in telling those stories, he came off as an arrogant jerk. Hearing stories from a person about how smart and clever they were while others were stupid and

foolish is extremely off-putting.

I did, however, enjoy the retelling of the investigations into the Challenger explosion (perhaps is had relevance as a more newsworthy topic rather than arrogant snippets from the author's life). In my opinion, Ralph Leighton should have only used those stories for the book. Perhaps instead of starting the book with corny stories from Feynman, he could have given more background leaving up to the tragedy.

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LibraryThing member Mike_B

Anecdotes and recountings of interesting stories from Professor Feynman's life. Amazing recount of his time on the Presidential Commission that investigated the space shuttle Challenger disaster.

LibraryThing member ashishg

Sequel to Surely You're Joking, this book is trifle more serious in tone than previous, but gives more insight into his methods and approaches to work. Also more information about his personal life is provided.

LibraryThing member A.Godhelm

The second half about Feynman's work with the Challenger disaster commission is worth the price of admission.

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