Also, when he started digging into the safety calculations, he rapidly discovered that they made no sense. NASA had all these claims about how careful they were, and how unlikely it was that anything could go wrong on a launch. They quoted figures like "a one in ten thousand chance of failure".
So Feynman does the obvious piece of arithmetic and says, guys, do you honestly mean you could launch one Shuttle a day for 30 years and only get a single crash? Several technical people back down and say, no, of course not, the real figure is probably more like one in a hundred. There are too many unknowns. But the senior managers stick to their guns, and when he goes back to talk to the techies a second time they won't confirm their earlier comments. There is a really tragic story here about self-deception.
The US politicians decided that space travel needed to be safe, but they didn't understand that it couldn't yet be done. Their unwillingness to accept this fact has almost killed manned space flight. The rest of the book is pretty good too. Warning: the chapter about his first wife and her early death from tuberculosis might make you cry. View all 15 comments. Dec 22, Dr.
Appu Sasidharan rated it it was amazing. Throwback Review Richard Feynman was a world-famous physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in for his contributions to quantum electrodynamics. He is also famous for Feynman Technique and Feynman diagram. Feynman discusses more about his family life and his first wife Arline's tragic death in this book.
The reason for the challenger disaster was perfectly demonstrated that the material used in the Challenger shuttle's O-rings were less resilient to cold. This book is Throwback Review Richard Feynman was a world-famous physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in for his contributions to quantum electrodynamics. This book is also discussing that topic in depth.
I had a conversation with a coworker a couple days ago about whether leadership can be taught. Can you make somebody into a great leader? If so, then why are so many people bad at leading? I really have no idea. I stop being skeptical; I had a conversation with a coworker a couple days ago about whether leadership can be taught.
Yet all of my natural cynicism and distrust are dispersed like a puff of air when faced with Feynman's charm. There is some mysterious element in his personality that everyone seems to notice. In another review, Manny suggested that Feynman might have been a mystic. I admit that I scoffed at the suggestion at the time. Well, on to the book. The lighthearted tone that enlivened the earlier book is here almost absent. View all 8 comments. Nov 13, Tara rated it really liked it Shelves: stem-shelf-research.
For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman received the Nobel Prize in Physics in And, believe it or not, those are but a small fraction of his many and varied interests and accomplishments. Furthermore, he was also a very colorful, lovable character with a highly unique way of looking at things and an irresistibly jaunty sense of humor.
The second part is a rather detailed account of his time on the commission that investigated the NASA space shuttle Challenger explosion. Hardly anyone can understand the importance of an idea, it is so remarkable. Except that, possibly, some children catch on. And when a child catches on to an idea like that, we have a scientist. It is too late for them to get the spirit when they are in our universities, so we must attempt to explain these ideas to children.
It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
It is our responsibility to leave the people of the future a free hand. In the impetuous youth of humanity, we can make grave errors that can stunt our growth for a long time. This we will do if we say we have the answers now, so young and ignorant as we are.
It has been done so many times before. View all 9 comments. Jan 10, Darwin8u rated it really liked it Shelves: , science. An interesting book. Not as good as Surely You're Joking, Mr. Part 1 of the book A Curious Character contains roughly 9 essays spanning Feynman's life. Some of the essays are expansions of stories and essays from other books. Part 2 Mr. Feynman Goes to Washing "If we want to solve a problem that we have never solved before, we must leave the door to the unknown ajar.
Feynman Goes to Washington details Dr. Feynman's time on the Roger's Commission investigating the Challenger accident. While not the Manhattan Project, Feynman's work on the Roger's Commission provides an amazing vehicle for looking at Feynman's unique way of tackling a project. At the end of the book, Feynman includes a beautiful essay on "The Value of Science".
Mar 27, E. View all 3 comments. Somehow I came across Richard Feynman in the spring of I wish I had come across him sooner. I was not quite sure how to pronounce his last name so I asked my husband if he had ever heard of Richard "Feman" and he responded "Feynman?
My husband passed away in June of and he had very much in common with Richard Feynman. In fact, my husband reminded me so much of him! I think my husband would very much enjoyed the short autobiography. For ME, the short autobiography helped me immensely with my grief. On the first CD, Richard Feynman speaks of his very first love and his very first wife that was cut short with her passing. He said that there was more quality in the 10 years he spent with her so time quantity meant very little to him regarding that.
I have gotten much enjoyment from listening to Dr. Feynman and his different views on life and his many accomplishments and teachings on YouTube.
A brilliant, humble man - almost a reflection of my husband. This world lost two great men my husband and Dr. View all 7 comments. We need more Feynman's. We need more people to read this book and discover their backbone, their own self-worth and critical thinking. Consider the alternatives I still have some vivid memories about his humor, quite libertarian personal philosophy and life experiences.
He was so good at seeing, then demonstrating clearly, some basic truths that needed telling. See his account, and the historical record, on his part of figuring out what happened to the Challenger spacecraft explosion. You will be amazed at how simple and effective good creative communication can be. I recommend this book, and it's earlier companion: "Surely you are joking, Mr.
Thank you Ross Overbeek, for investing in me with the earlier book. I am eternally grateful. Shelves: 21st-century , non-fiction , favorites-of , tthe-scientists. 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 idea 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. 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. 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. Jan 06, Aditi Jaiswal rated it really liked it Shelves: memoirs-biographies-autobiographies.
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.
These are specifically important in removing any kind of sort of obscurity in the summary of technological rocket parts O- rings, etc. Despite the extreme web content, this component of the book keeps the strong aspects of wit found within remainder of the magazine. It cares for to repaint an outrageous picture of the ways points tended to be cared for in NASA e. He furthermore intends in the direction of the basic mistakes made by large companies such as NASA because of the divide in between levels of administration by telling individual conversations with the administration, designers as well as additionally workers.
The perspicuous way with which he specifies his involvement in the evaluation virtually makes the viewers really feel as if he were best together with Feynman while he was dealt the task of checking out the mishap.
I like thisbook Funny composing from among my intellectual heroes as well as an uncommon, genuine dazzling. Audio Download. Free with Audible Trial. Audio CD. Books on Tape of Discs: 6. Audio Cassette. Books on Tape of Tapes: 5.
Learn More About Biography Scientists. Science Scientists. This Author: Richard P.
0コメント