Thursday, September 13, 2007

What do you care what other people think? by Richard Feynman


Got to read Feynman after a very long time. This book is more of his love life and challenger shuttle disaster investigation. He is much older but the same inquisitiveness is there. He writes about his love. He married his love despite knowing that it was a matter of time she died. She did pass away soon. It nice to know he was a wonderful human.

One thing that stuck his the way his father taught him when he was young. The key was making him (Feynman) learn ‘why’ instead of just the description, names and mugging. I Guess it is never too young to start teaching.

Greater part of the book is about the investigation into Challenger shuttle crash, which killed 7 astronauts. Important thing that comes out is the systematic investigation. He also writes about the team balances within the investigating group. He has put the crash reason in a simple way for people to understand. It was because of rubber seals which failed at low temperatures. This problem was known but was not taken as risk. It was interpreted that if it had not failed previously, it could not fail again. It is a assumption most of make in like to see things move on. The shuttle flights were flown at very high odds of failure.

The book is a good read, but not as much fun as ‘Surely you must be joking’, but still an interesting read. There is quite a bit of technical jargon. The mature and older Feynman is reflected in the book.

3 comments:

Anuradha Shankar said...

its been a long time since i read Feynman too , and this book is a new one to me... shall try to get hold of it... is it a new one ?

Anonymous said...

Its not new but post surely Mr Feynman

Anonymous said...

did u read this storybook?its very nice.
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