Love for Professor Feynman increases! ♥️

If you have read SYJMF ( Surely, You Are Joking Mr Feynman) then this book might seem redundant, repetitive except the events are not in chronological order. It reads like odd, aimless anecdotes including some personal uninteresting letters, travel stories with a hint of smug, and self-righteous reflections of a man always sizzling with new ideas, are scattered across the board but you can't deny that they are winsome in its wording.

Perhaps this was the reason that I found it slightly monotonous because I have read so much about his adventures in SYJMF, except for one thing, among all these stories there was something entirely captivating and warming that it was nearly impossible to dislike this book. It was his enthusiasm and undying love for learning.

People with such childlike curiosity understand the importance of an idea and that's why they have an undaunted spirit to innovate, they dare to ask harsh questions when hit by the feeling of inquisition.

When he reminisces on his last adventure of investigating and discovering the cause that led to Space Shuttle Challenger disaster with a simple ice cup experiment, he didn't fail to blatantly put forward his views. His criticism on bureaucracy and public relations overshadowing the scientific recommendations was spot on because indeed for a technology to become successful, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.

It's an indisputable fact that an exaggeration at the top which is inconsistent with the reality at the bottom anywhere will always lead to a jammed communication. He unravelled this failure of communication by explaining how NASA's getting political influence came in the way of the recommendation. The pressure to prove that a system is capable harms the result. Essential information is suppressed or discouraged by the big authorities who are in charge of reporting, to get the support of the govt and to ensure the supply of funds.

The latter part of the book did get technical at times but was no less interesting.

Lastly, I felt like Professor Feynman often contradicted himself as he had plans to say something but he tried to make peace with everything by compromising. For instance, he accepted that he was trying to balance the good and bad, equally, but in the end, the book was drafted in a way to give you an impression that the right always outweighs the wrong.

Fun fact: Professor Feynman had a habit of forgetting things when he did something dumb or annoying that put people out.

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" is a gem - that's true without any doubt whatsoever. It's consistent, inspiring and definitely funny. Feynman was not only a fascinating character - he was also able to convey stories from his life into a clear, mesmerising form, which is more than you're typically looking for in a great memoir-ish kind of a book.
That being said, "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" proved to be a rather disappointing experience for me. I have to say that I read only ~65% of it and dropped some part of the story about Feynman involvement in investigating Challenger's disaster in 1986. Blame is on me, though - I'd just read so much about it in other places that it could not surprise me with anything new.
The weakest point of the book, for me, was most of the letters - I felt that they were picked not to give us, readers, some insight into Feynman's mind, but rather to fill pages, which would have been blank otherwise, in this book.
The strongest point was its ending. “The Value of Science“, a public speech which was given at the during a meeting of the National Academy of Sciences in autumn of 1955 was and is a great piece. I could call it enlightening even, as there we can wonder - together with the author - about why knowledge is so alluring, so captivating and why people spend their life on acquiring it and trying to discover the universe.
I recommend it to anybody & you can read it for free by looking for "Feynman, Value of Science, 1955". But that's just an addition to the book itself & it's available separately as well.
To sum up, I enjoyed some stories from the early part of this tome, but it wasn't enough for me to truly "like" it - thus, only 2 of the 5 possible stars. Maybe my expectations were just a bit too high?

didn’t enjoy the first half as much but the second about the nasa commission was very interesting. cool guy

I really love reading the Feynman books. They always inspire me to want to be a better person. I did find that this one was a little slow for me in the second part this time. Already knowing the story of Feynman's involvement in the Challenger investigation, it doesn't make for amazing re-reading in the way that Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character does.

This story is the sister companion to “Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman”. I read that book in Sep 2023 and became an instant fan of Feynman. When I saw there was a follow-up I was intrigued hoping for more of the interesting stories and tinged with wit and RPFs wonderful knack for storytelling. In my review of that one I fully had the intention of possibly getting to this one by the end of 2023... fail! I did read it within a year of the first one though.

Part 1 = 2 stars
Part 2 and appendices = 5 stars
Overall = 4 stars

من فقط یک فصل از کتاب که عنوان کتاب رو داشت خوندم.
تو این فصل فاینمن از اولین همسرش میگه. به قدری خوب و ساده و روان حرف میزنه و خوب در مورد دوست داشتن حرف میزنه که آخرش بغضم گرفته بود.
نامه‌ش به این زنش که یک سال بعد مرگش هم نوشته بود عالیه!

Really difficult to review this without comparing it to "Surely You're Joking", which is a shame since this book is pretty good all on its own, but is a bit scattershot (which it admits right at the beginning), and about half of it covers the Challenger explosion in more details than I really cared about. For the Feynman completist or NASA disaster junkie this will be really interesting, for the average reader probably not.

However the first essay, about how parents can instill a love of learning and a sense of scientific curiosity in children, should be handed out to all prospective parents - read this book if only for that one chapter.

Cred că Feynman este singura persoană a cărei auto-biografie o citesc cu atât de multă plăcere. Atunci când viața îți este la fel de interesantă precum un roman de acțiune, negreșit că ești un om deosebit. Iar personalitatea curioasă, jucăușă și creativă a lui Feynman constituie ingredientul magic al vieții sale.

Spre deosebire de "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!", cartea "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" are o notă puțin mai tristuță atunci când este vorba de prima sa soție și un ton mai serios în părțile în care descrie derularea investigației accidentului navetei spațiale Challenger. În ciuda acestui fapt, ghidușiile lui Feynman aruncă un voal de farmec asupra tuturor acestor evenimente. În plus, un lucru pe care l-am descoperit este că și prima sa soție, în ciuda condiției sale, a fost jucăușă și creativă, fiind cea care a făcut ca fraza "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" să primească o conotație specială.

Recomand cu căldură această frântură din viața unui fizician și om aparte.

Alright, here we go.

Here's the beauty of this book. Did it drive me absolutely crazy? Yes. Did I have moments where I felt like banging my head against it? Yes. Did I enjoy it and find it extremely interesting anyway? Absolutely.

Seeing the world through Feynman's eyes for me, was like taking every thought I ever had and twisting it to its polar opposite. Everything I see is made abstract in some way. Feynman, on the other hand, is cut and dry in all he does. Logical. To the point. Pragmatic, precise, extremely intelligent.
I think this is what made him a genius. Because he thought of everything as it was. Straightforward, clear, with reasoning and analysis. No twists and turns or philosophical spins.

However, with this practicality comes somewhat perceived apathy. In the initial stories, where Feynman describes the death of his first love, Arlene, it is spoken of in the same way he later speaks of a psychological experiment. How can the same voice be used for the two? Everything about Arlene is calculated simply and plainly. There is no passion, no emotion behind her death. A simple calculation of how many days she has left to live, and then a logical attempt to maximize her remaining days. Perhaps one sentence about the subsequent grief.

I find it incredibly rewarding to change my perspective every once in a while, and this book surely gave me that. It allowed me to see through the eyes of a genius.

Ilgi svārstījos starp 3 un 4, bet beigās sapratu, ka tik labi jau arī nebija. Bet bija labi. Grāmata kā krāsains personības nospiedums, bet mazliet par īsu un random, lai izvilktu līdz pavisam labai biogrāfijai.