Review by Choice Review
Those who may have perused Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (CH, Apr '85) will not be disappointed by this little gem. Sadly one realizes that he will no longer provide further examples of his mischievous curiosity that for decades endeared him to students and colleagues. Feynman, a Nobel Laureate in physics, died in February 1988. His legacy in theoretical physics shapes the way we think about the cosmos. Though it is outside his career endeavors, in this edited collection of memoirs, he hoped to contribute to getting the US space shuttle back to work. As a member of the Rogers' Commission investigation into the Challenger explosion, he came to the conclusion that lawyers, managers, and technical experts have some difficulty getting their heads together because they often look at problems from inherently incompatible points of view. Failures in management (not in hardware that was unreliable anyway), he observed, caused the disaster. Outraged by the Commission's intent to omit his findings, Feynman threatened to resign. A compromise resulted in having them placed in an appendix of the Commission's report. That appendix is included here, and his reflections give these findings a timeless sense of importance. -E. H. Christianson, University of Kentucky
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
The title of this second volume of memoirs from the late Noble Prize-winning physicist came from his first wife, his high school sweetheart, who was terminally ill when they married. She used the expression as a kind of verbal gauntlet, flung to convince her husband-- then a scientist working at Los Alamos-- to perform silly, outrageous acts. It also serves as an indicator of the uncompromising effort Feynman made to explain the 1986 space shuttle explosion, even if it meant exposing NASA's bad judgment. Much of this book recounts that groundbreaking research. With humility, Feynman explains how his spectacular findings regarding the cause of the explosion were achieved. Also included are selected letters and essays capturing the wit and style that made a best-seller of the author's ``Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'' [BKL N 15 84]. DPD.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Roughly half of these 21 short, colloquial essays deal with Feynman's firsthand investigaton of the Challenger space-shuttle disaster. He casts himself in the role of intrepid detective, and the first-person singular pronoun keeps intruding on the worthwhile things he has to say about flight safety and lack of communication within NASA. An appendix offers his chilling technical observations on the shuttle's reliability or lack of it. The remaining pieces are mostly a blur of international conferences, purveying slight anecdotes. But two essays touch genuine depths of feeling: his tribute to his father, who taught him to cultivate a sense of wonder, and his account of his love affair with his first wife (who died). In this posthumous miscellany, theoretical physicist Feynman displays only sporadically the adventurousness that captivated readers of Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman. (October) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Following the success of the late Nobel laureate's first commercial book, Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (1984), this second was perhaps an inevitability. The book has problems, but it is worthwhile nonetheless. In general, the new anecdotes lack the wit, novelty, and outrageousness of those in the earlier work. The book's second half is the high point; it is topical, entertaining, and illuminating, and telells of Feynman's work on the Rogers Commission, which investigated the Challenger space shuttle disaster. Readers who bypass the first part, which is rife with unconnected tales, will be happy to find this in their libraries. Gregg Sapp, Idaho State Univ. Lib., Boise (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
There is a touch of sadness in reading this second installment of Feynmaniana: The iconoclast physicist and Nobelist died in February 1988 following years of treatment for stomach cancer. Further, there are fewer of the high jinks--safecracking at Los Alamos, late nights in Las Vegas, bongo drum-playing here, there, and everywhere--recounted in Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman (1985). Instead, we are treated to tales of childhood and the turn of curious mind cultivated by his father, a sales manager for a company making uniforms. It was his father who taught Richard to observe nature (the trail of a maggot eating a leaf; the movement of a ball riding in a little red wagon. . .) and to distrust authority. It was Arlene, Richard's first wife, who asked the title question. Arlene was the high-school sweetheart who died of tuberculosis when Feynman was at Los Alamos working on the atomic bomb. Arlene liked games and tricks. Typical were pencils she had printed with the message, ""Richard darling, I love you! Putsy,"" embarrassing the young post-doc then at Princeton--and inviting her retort. There are also tales of maturity. Indeed, over half the volume is a record of Feynman's notes and observations while serving on the Rogers' Commission investigating the Challenger disaster. Feynman was celebrated as the investigator ever ready to go to talk to the low-level guys at Kennedy, Houston, Marshall or wherever, and ask gutsy questions. Incidentally, Feynman sets the record straight: While he made TV news with his demonstration of the failure of the O-ring rubber to spring back after exposure to ice water, it was actually an astronaut who told another Commission member who made the canny suggestion to Feynman. This section should be read by all who serve on commissions--not to mention the investigatees as well. As in the earlier work, Leighton's invisible hand brings Feynman to life in all his wonderful and multiple dimensions. Marvelous. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
