What Do You Care What Other People Think Book Review

“What Do You Care What Other People Think?” Further Adventures of a Curious Character, written and narrated by famous physicist Richard P. Feynman; the book consists of two parts: firstly about his life through sequences of humorous stories and several early influences he encountered; mainly his first wife Arlene. Through very emotional stories on how he and Arlene dealt with her heart breaking battle with tuberculosis. All these events led to his personal battle with cancer, ending with his death and imprinting his legacy on physics today. Even through a struggling experience with Arlene, he went about the situation in an optimistic and true-to-life attitude. The second part to the book discusses his time with Rogers Commission and his role in the investigation of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. Ultimately, determining the problems and reasons to what caused it. By having a determined and self-motivated person like Richard Feynman on their team, NASA was able to find a solution to such a peculiar situation.
Feynman and Arlene’s positive outlook on life itself shined through the pages during a difficult time in their lives together. This goes to show Feynman’s perspective of life where he would describe events leading up to Arlene’s death through effortless humor and passion. Feynman realizes the true meaning of life after the tragic death of his first love. Feynman married Arlene during a time where marriage was only acceptable after completing school and being financially stable within a career. Feynman married her knowing that she was terminally ill with tuberculosis and regardless of the fact that such a decision would be strongly frowned upon by society and his family (Feynman 42). He continued to finish school and pursue a career afterwards; all while challenging a society norm with marrying Arlene, proving his self-determined and confident character. As a child, his father was his biggest inspiration and influence on Feynman’s practice of