Take a photo of a barcode or cover
alastaircraig 's review for:
What Do You Care What Other People Think?
by Richard P. Feynman
While this isn't as even or organised as Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, it's a very noble effort to share a little more of an amazing life - a life which, even as his friend was preparing this collection, he knew was drawing to an close.
The opening anecdotes (once again spoken accounts adapted to print) are among his very, very best. The first deals with his father, who trained his son to ask all the right questions. If I am ever lucky enough to be a parent, I'll strive to live up to this example.
The second story is the most personal and touching he's ever told, covering the all-too-short life of his first wife, Arline, whom Feynman married despite her looming terminal illness. Her good humour and encouragement just shine through the page.
From here, it's effectively a posthumous collection of odds and ends. The other anecdotes and travel correspondence are far less essential, but welcome for variety's sake.
The second half is of far more specialised interest: a very detailed long-form story of his time investigating the Challenger space shuttle disaster. It makes an interesting bookend to the previous volume's Los Alamos From Below. Older and wearier, he's no longer cracking safes containing national secrets. However, he still has that refreshing combination of meticulousness and completely winging it. He ignores bad advice, sees through the bullshit, and accidentally makes several (very polite) enemies along the way. For all the frustrations and setbacks he encounters, I cheered when he got the last word in, scoring a string of minor victories for rational thought through sheer cheeky persistence.
It's not the best introduction to Mr. Feynman's life and work, but for those who finished Surely You're Joking and need more, it does the job admirably.
The opening anecdotes (once again spoken accounts adapted to print) are among his very, very best. The first deals with his father, who trained his son to ask all the right questions. If I am ever lucky enough to be a parent, I'll strive to live up to this example.
The second story is the most personal and touching he's ever told, covering the all-too-short life of his first wife, Arline, whom Feynman married despite her looming terminal illness. Her good humour and encouragement just shine through the page.
From here, it's effectively a posthumous collection of odds and ends. The other anecdotes and travel correspondence are far less essential, but welcome for variety's sake.
The second half is of far more specialised interest: a very detailed long-form story of his time investigating the Challenger space shuttle disaster. It makes an interesting bookend to the previous volume's Los Alamos From Below. Older and wearier, he's no longer cracking safes containing national secrets. However, he still has that refreshing combination of meticulousness and completely winging it. He ignores bad advice, sees through the bullshit, and accidentally makes several (very polite) enemies along the way. For all the frustrations and setbacks he encounters, I cheered when he got the last word in, scoring a string of minor victories for rational thought through sheer cheeky persistence.
It's not the best introduction to Mr. Feynman's life and work, but for those who finished Surely You're Joking and need more, it does the job admirably.