What Do You Care What Other People Think? is an essay collection. The title essay is the love story of Feynman and his first wife. Two years ago I read an article on the topic, reconstructed from the letters between them. Those are very emotional letters, clearly written by people deeply in love.

The main essay in the collection is Feynman’s investigation of the Challenger space shuttle incident. It is a fascinating read. It goes without saying Feynman was extremely intelligent, but he was not a dork. To me, his seemingly lacking of political or social nuance was because he did not value such quality above honesty and scientific integrity, not because he didn’t understand. Such a "quirky" scientist is the right man for the job!

The epilogue is about the value of science, a very sharp and succinct argument on the topic that should be included in every high school science curriculum.

Three values of science:

1. The first value:

"It is that scientific knowledge enables us to do all kinds of things and to make all kinds of things."

"Scientific knowledge is an enabling power to do either good or bad - but it does not carry instructions on how to use it"

He then made an analogy of a lesson he learned at Buddhist temple in Hawaii:

"Once in Hawaii, I was taken to see a Buddhist temple. In the temple, a man said, "I am going to tell you something that you will never forget." And then he said "To every man is given the key to Heaven. The same key opens the gates of Hell."

And so it is with science.

2. The second value:

"Another value of science is the fun called intellectual enjoyment which some people get from reading and learning and thinking about it, and which others get from working in it."

Intellectual enjoyment, anyone?

3. The third value:

"I WOULD NOW like to turn to a third value that science has....The scientist has a lot of experience with ignorance and doubt and uncertainty, and this experience is of very great importance, I think."

That is, be humble, be curious.

I think that while this book may work as a lighthearted romp, and as wonderfully illuminating insight into the life and thinking of Richard Feynman—easily the most interesting scientist I've ever read—it also functions as a quintessential book on what it means to think as a scientist.

I say this because while I understand what it means to think politically—"we must understand the players, the stakes, and what each person wants, along with what benefits whom", or something like this—and as an ideal businessperson—"how does this generate value, profit, and benefit for consumers in a ethical way"—I can safely say I could not sum up neatly what it means to think as a scientist before encountering this work.

But Feynman does an amazing job of showing what that means, because he thinks like one, seemingly as naturally as one knows how to walk or breathe. This is best demonstrated when he is assisting the U.S. Federal Government and NASA investigate what happened during the Challenger explosion later in the work. He is apparently confused by both the politics of bureaucracy, and the lack of scientific understanding by those above the engineers and technical people. He eventually overcomes this, and mentions how in science, one needs to think of what works and what might be the best solution, regardless of authority or political or (I would assume, if acting in the purest way) business concerns. This was actually very enlightening, and it was a delight seeing Feynman's childlike (real or feigned) ignorance blossom into seamless and fluid understandings that continuously helped him navigate through unfamiliar situations. Like when he accidentally gave a confidential report to a reporter, only to get it back from him and prevent it being released simply by saying 'I have no idea of this works, I don't understand the news business, I made a mistake and was acting foolish.'

Ultimately, I would argue one of the most important things I came to learn in this book is that one of the essential things a scientist must have is doubt:

"When a scientist doesn’t know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty—some most unsure, some nearly sure, but none absolutely certain"

I think this sort of thinking is incredibly helpful in any sort of intellectual exploration, because once someone becomes too certain, the risk of becoming too fanatical, partisan, or close-minded greatly increases, which ultimately closes off the potential of learning more. I think Richard Feynman remained open-minded even late into his life, and if nothing else aside from the sheer entertainment value and insightful commentary of his adventures, keeping an open and doubtful mind is probably the greatest takeaway I can think of from this fantastic book.

Feynman encourages us to challenge perspectives, to let our thoughts travel beyond the borders defined by the palpable matter of us, of the world we live in. Here are few of the pathways of this journey.
“When an atom makes a transition from one state to another, it emits a particle of light”- a scientific fact which we could transfer to the definition of us- a conglomerate of tangible atoms and feelings and thoughts and senses ( we are a ‘population’ of lots of atoms (imagine a number with 27 zeros! :), e.g. oxygen -about 65 percent of our weight, carbon -about 18 percent, hydrogen -about 10 percent, and not to forget about sodium and potassium , which together represent only about 0.6% of our body and are essential for our functional status ),

...“Although my mother didn’t know anything about science, she had a great influence on me as well. In particular, she had a wonderful sense of humor, and I learned from her that the highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion”- I could not agree more!

....“Arlene didn’t spend all of her time inventing games. She had sent away for a book called ‘Sound and Symbol in Chinese’. It was a lovely book- I still have it- with about fifty symbols done in beautiful calligraphy, with explanations like ‘Trouble: three women in a house.” She had the right paper, brushes, and ink and was practicing calligraphy. She had also bought a Chinese dictionary to get a lot of other symbols.
One time when I came to visit her, Arlene was practicing these things. She says to herself. “No. That one’s wrong.”
So I, the “great scientist,” say, “What do you mean, ‘wrong’? It’s only a human convention. There is no law of nature which says how they’re supposed to look; you can draw them any way you want.”
“I mean, artistically it’s wrong. It’s a question of balance, of how it feels.”
“But one way is just as good as another,” I protest.
“Here,” she says, and she hands me the brush. “Make one yourself.”
So I made one, and I said, “Wait a minute. Let me make another one- it’s too blobby.” ( I couldn’t say it was wrong, after all.)
“How do you know how blobby it’s supposed to be?” she says.
I learnt what she meant. There’s a particular way you have to make the stroke for it to look good. An aesthetic thing has a certain set, a certain character, which I can’t define. Because it couldn’t be defined made me think there was nothing to it. But I learned from that experience that there is something to it- and it’s a fascination I’ve had for art ever since.”

What do you care what other people think? is a book about how to love.

Yeah, there's science involved, and a good chunk of the book is about Feynman's iced water experiment for discovering the cause of the Challenger disaster (O ring stiffness at 29C creates improper sealing). But the real gist of the book is in characterizing the makings of a scientist/lover.

It's interesting and beautiful that the title came from Feynman's wife who died of tuberculosis. "Why do you care what other people think" is an aphorism which really means "why are you only half of the lover you could've been". It's a vindication of being ashamed of the portions of yourself which were real and raw, of hanging back shyly when instead you could be dancing with the girl.

The first part of the book is about the makings of a lover, and includes a epistolary spiel of Feynman to his lovers. The first part is an explanation of the second part, the makings of a scientist. Feynman only agreed to investigate Challenger because Darlene, his second wife, pointed out why wait when you could be jumping and waving your hands around and checking this and that? Only you can find the solution. Who cares about authority? The second reason was that he was unafraid to go right on ahead and prove people wrong. At first he feels embarrassed to do anything bold and on camera, but then he thinks about the American scientist who debunked N rays, and if he would have done it than who am I to care what other people think? Pt 1 is about learning the vulnerability of showing your true self; without this, you would be too busy keeping up with your own falsehood to go searching for external truth.

So being a great scientist and being a great lover really aren't that different.

P.S. read Feynman's letter to his departed wife

More by the Laughing Physicist. (Okay, I suspect no one ever coined that phrase about Feynman, but they could have!)

Why did I give this one a four stars instead of five like the first volume? It wasn't because the book is any less entertaining, that's for certain. Simply put, the first volume/book had such an impact when I read it that I just had to put it at five stars. Had I read them in reverse order then this is the volume that would be scored a five. (That's symmetry for you - a topic covered in "Six Not-So-Easy Pieces".)

Run, yes, run right out to the bookstore (or library if you are poor or tired of collecting volumes) and get your hands on anything by the "Laughing Physicist". Go. right. now. I'll be waiting to hear the titter of laughter.

“The scientist has a lot of experience with ignorance and doubt and uncertainty, and this experience is of very great importance, I think. When a scientist doesn’t know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Scientific knowledge is a body of statements of varying degrees of certainty—some most unsure, some nearly sure, but none absolutely certain. Now, we scientists are used to this, and we take it for granted that it is perfectly consistent to be unsure, that it is possible to live and not know. But I don’t know whether everyone realizes this is true. Our freedom to doubt was born out of a struggle against authority in the early days of science. It was a very deep and strong struggle: permit us to question—to doubt—to not be sure. I think that it is important that we do not forget this struggle and thus perhaps lose what we have gained. Herein lies a responsibility to society.”
- Feynman

[audiokniha]
Skvělé pokračování taktéž parádní knihy To nemyslíte vážně, pane Feynmane. Kniha volně navazuje na první, ale vyprávění je rozděleno do tří tematických celků, ve kterých se střídají příběhy veselé i smutné, vážné i hravé.
První část se věnuje nejzádnějším formativním vlivům na jeho osobnost - otci a první ženě Arlene. Největší část knihy pak zabírá Feynmanova účast ve vyšetřovací komisi raketoplánu Challenger, vyprávějící především o jeho nekonečném boji s úředníky NASA. Závěrečná přednáška o významu a přínosech vědy celkově shrnuje Feynmanův přístup ke všemu - otevřený, nekonečně zvědavý, fér, hravý a bez jakýchkoliv předsudků.
Rozhodně doporučuju!

As a sequel to Feynman’s main biography, this book is not as funny or fluid at the first book, but is still very great.

The book is divided in two. The first revolves around his first love, Arlene Feynman, and the second about the space Challenger commission. To be honest, I enjoyed the first section way more than the second one.

---------------

Throughout the whole first section, I could not stop smiling at how wholesome and genuine the love shared between Richard and Arlene was. The way Richard Feynman talks about Arlene Feynman is, for a lack of a better word, wow, just WOW. The imagery used to described their relationship and their whole love story will pull ceaselessly at your heartstrings. The first part was so soppy yet so wonderful. Their romance will make you crave for the same type of love. And their love story is a living proof why true love is better in real life than fiction.

A really lopsided book, compared to "Surely You're Joking".

That said, the story about his life with Arline was heartbreaking yet beautiful, the bit about the past-looking Greeks was strangely reminiscent of my own culture, and the letters written by his friends were absolutely wonderful.

Richard Feynman, a brilliant physicist, an enthusiastic learner, and a down-to-earth person. Backed up by his book "Surely you're joking Mr Feynman", his love for science, his personality, are enhanced through this book. A curious man, always trying to reason out things and to finding why things are the way they're. An enigmatic person who found beauty in simple things, always restless being idle.

Most of the book covers on his role in the commission to understand the failure of NASA's Challenger mission. The scientific details involved in solving the problem is explained as simple as possible. It also tells a little bit of his personal life that includes brief encounters with his first wife, the learnings he got from his mother and his first teacher, his father. The best part of the book is that there's a dedicated chapter explaining the "value of science" - it's advantages and disadvantages, and how skillfully and knowledgeably it must be used. I just loved that part, it's worth reading. His curiousness and enthusiasm in "learning about things" was a great learning for me. :)

A must read for all Richard Feynman and science fans!

Richard Feynman is one of the most famous twentieth century Physicists. He is one of those rare scientists who have managed to go beyond the success in the narrow confines of his field of research and become a public celebrity. A big part of this success comes from his persona which combined incredible brilliance with the irreverent and down-to-earth attitude to most problems in life, be they "big" ones like working on the atomic bomb, or the everyday ones that almost all of us are familiar with. It's the latter ones and his quirky and unorthodox approach to them that made Feynman endearing to the general public.

His earlier book "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman" was a classic and an inspiration to generations of young scientists who were shown that you can have lots of fun while pursuing a life in science. I myself had read it in single sitting, and had completely been mesmerized by Feynman's wit and irreverent attitude. "What Do You Care What Other People Think" is a further collection of stories and anecdotes from his life. Some of these had been told by others over the years, but in this book they all come together in a single volume as told by Feynman himself. Some of the events and stories presented come from the last few years of his life, and it is hard not to feel the poignancy of the fact that these were some of his last thoughts on subjects and situations that he cared about.

Almost half of the book is dedicated to the investigation of the Challenger disaster. Feynman was on the presidential commission that investigated that disaster, and here we get a full insight into what had been going on during commission's session. Many reports have made it seem that Feynman had single handedly figured out the true cause of the disaster - the faulty o-rings that were not meant to be used in really low temperatures. In this book he sets the record straight and explains that although he was the public face that brought attention to the o-rings, there had been many people behind the scenes who had suspected a problem with them for quite a while. This part of the book is also a very useful and revealing glimpse into the workings of a big governmental and scientific agency like NASA.

The book concludes with few musings on the responsibility of science for social problems. In these musings Feynman turns uncharacteristically philosophical, even almost spiritual. He might not have been the most sophisticated thinkers in these matters, but his instincts were very acute and well worth listening to.

All of those who appreciate Feynman's work and brilliance will be grateful for this honest and easy-going narrative. It is also hard not to think that with Feynman's passing a whole era of Physics had come to an end. Those of us who think that somewhere along the way theoretical Physics had lost its way and had become a caricature of its former self, may wonder if all of that could have been avoided had Feynman lived for another ten years or so. We'll just never really know.

Feynman is a truly wondrous character.

If you are curious about the greatest physicist of all time (my opinion) I say you'd better start with "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character.

This book is alright but the other one is much better.