Just absolutely wonderful - another collection of anecdotes from Feynman's life. The first part of the book almost seems indistinguishable from 'Surely You're...', using the same style of narration to present details of incidents. These 'incidents' are often unconnected and span from childhood recollections from Feynman's life and his original encounter with Arlene (his wife) to the time he spent during a trip to Brazil. Each story is amusing whilst managing to provide a deeper glimpse into the erratic, comical yet intelligent character of Feynman.
The second and greater part of this book deals with Feynman's presence on the committee investigating the 1986 crash of the Space Shuttle Challenger, capturing the incredible dissatisfaction felt by him as he is plunged into the administrative bureaucracy of Washington and NASA. The descriptions of the shuttle and its faulty components are illustrated clearly with the help of figures and photographs. These illustrations help the reader visualize the circumstances of the crash and where the the major fault within the shuttle actually lay. These are particularly helpful in eliminating any ambiguity in the description of technical rocket components (O-rings, etc). Despite the serious content, this part of the book retains the strong elements of humor found within rest of the book. It manages to paint a ludicrous picture of the way things tended to be handled in NASA (e.g. NASA informing an official that the probability of failure of an manned rocket is 1 in 100,000 which implied that "you could fly the shuttle every day for an average of 300 years between accidents- every day, one flight, for 300 years- which is obviously crazy!"). He also points towards the general errors made by large organizations such as NASA due to the divide between levels of management by narrating personal conversations with the management, engineers and workers. The perspicuous manner with which he describes his involvement in the investigation almost makes the reader feel as if he were right alongside Feynman while he was dealt the task of investigating the crash.
I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed "Surely You're Joking..." and is willing to put his mind to a bit more work to enjoy the second part of the book. Overall, it is a great book that any Feynman fan will be willing to appreciate!
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The quality of the book is very good. The paper is thick enough to write it ...
The quality of the book is very good. The paper is thick enough to write it or do some kind of annotation without breaking any of the pages.
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North yorkshire lass
Purchased for old friend - he was delighted
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 21, 2024
Shashank
Book is awesome (&flawless) but quality is very poor.
Reviewed in India on September 18, 2023
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Reviewed in India on September 18, 2023
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