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What Do You Care What Other People Think?

Feynman’s poignant final memoir interweaving tender remembrances of his first wife Arlene’s death from tuberculosis with his determined investigation of the Challenger disaster, revealing both personal vulnerability and professional integrity.

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Summary

Published in 1988, shortly before Feynman’s death, What Do You Care What Other People Think? represented a departure from its predecessor’s lighthearted tone. The book’s title derived from words Arlene Greenbaum spoke to young Richard Feynman when he hesitated to act from fear of judgment—advice that became their shared philosophy of authentic living.

The book divided into two distinct sections, each revealing different dimensions of Feynman’s character. The first portion offered deeply personal remembrances of Arlene, his first wife, whom he married knowing she suffered from tuberculosis and would likely die young. These chapters possessed a tenderness rarely glimpsed in Feynman’s other writings. He recounted their courtship, their unconventional marriage while she lay hospitalized, and his work at Los Alamos while she slowly succumbed to illness nearby. Here was Feynman stripped of bravado—a young man grappling with love and impending loss, struggling to balance scientific duty with personal devotion.

The book’s second half chronicled his service on the Rogers Commission investigating the Challenger disaster. This narrative demonstrated how the same independence of mind that characterized his relationship with Arlene manifested in his professional life. Feynman described his methodical investigation, his frustration with bureaucratic evasion, and the famous O-ring demonstration that cut through institutional obfuscation. He detailed how he threatened to remove his name from the commission’s report unless permitted to append his own unvarnished observations—embodying Arlene’s question: what did he care what other people thought?

The juxtaposition proved powerful: personal vulnerability and professional fearlessness emerged from the same source—an unwavering commitment to truth, whether in matters of the heart or matters of state.

Quotes from What Do You Care What Other People Think?

“The only way to have real success in science, the field I’m familiar with, is to describe the evidence very carefully without regard to the way you feel it should be. If you have a theory, you must try to explain what’s good and what’s bad about it equally. In science, you learn a kind of standard integrity and honesty.”

Richard Feynman (verified)

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