weemba@garnet.berkeley.edu (Obnoxious Math Grad Student) (10/17/88)
``WHAT DO _YOU_ CARE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK?'', by the late Richard P Feynman has just come out. It's wonderful. Half the book is more autobiographical anecdotes a la ``SURELY YOU'RE JOKING, MR FEYNMAN'', and includes some real gems. I loved Feynman's career as a sexist pig. The more extensive glimpses of his first wife are quite touching--there is a little overlap here with SYJMR. The second half of the book is Feynman's story of his part in and view of the Challenger investigation. I read part of this when it appeared in PHYSICS TODAY (also, parts appeared in the Caltech publication SCI- ENCE AND ENGINEERING, which I have not seen)--there is much more here. The full story behind the ice cold/rubber connection/demonstration is remarkable. Also included are some third party letters, photos of R P Feynman the musical star and family man, and drawings by Ofey. At the end of the book is an offer for "Richard Feynman: Safecracker Suite", a one-hour tape/CD of "Feynman playing drums and telling his most infamous story". Send $10/$15 to Ralph Leighton/Box 70021/Pasadena CA 91107; all pro- ceeds go to UCLA's John Wayne Cancer Clinic. The book itself: $17.95, publisher W W Norton & Co, ISBN 0-393-02659-0. Cody's Books here in Berkeley has a pile of what looks like three to four hundred of them sitting on the floor up front! I have no connec- tion other than being a satisfied reader, and a not-quite-satisfied recipient (OK, it was free, I can't complain) of a promotional T-shirt, having a few wimpy Feynman diagrams on the front, and the title/author named on the back. Overall, reading the book was good fun, but it was tinged by the sur- rounding sadness (his own death and the Challenger tragedy). ucbvax!garnet!weemba Matthew P Wiener/Brahms Gang/Berkeley CA 94720