I was thinking this just yesterday, when I realised I could probably fix the leaking drain, even though I'm not trained as a plumber. At first I had my doubts,

I was thinking this just yesterday, when I realised I could probably fix the leaking drain, even though I'm not trained as a plumber. At first I had my doubts, but then once I got my hands on the pipe and started undoing the join, one thing led to another. By the time my fingers were wet, I had the confidence to keep going and see what I could see. When the drain sections were apart all was revealed. The thin black washer had perished, probably after 30 years. All that remained was to buy a replacement from the hardware store, fit it, and do the pipes up in the reverse order. "It's not rocket science." The phrase entered my thoughts as my anxiety abated. But then again, I thought, rocket science isn't so very different, is it? I thought about all those pipes on the outside of Saturn V, and the O ring made famous by Richard Feynman's investigation after the Columbia disaster. Yeah, it's similar. A lot of thing are reducible to something akin to "plumbing". What makes a good rocket scientist are the same things that make a good plumber. Knowledge of first principle, attention to detail, and a willingness the think things through. Whilst the stakes may be higher in actual rocket science and brain surgery, the practice of plumbing and gardening have a lot in common. I think that when I spend hours in the yard pulling up weeds. Is what a brain surgeon does much different when she removes a tumour?