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Letters to a Young Scientist
Download Letters to a Young Scientist
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Review
“The eminent entomologist, naturalist and sociobiologist draws on the experiences of a long career to offer encouraging advice to those considering a life in science… Glows with one man’s love for science.†- Kirkus Reviews“Edward O. Wilson, the evolutionary biologist who has studied social behavior among insects and humans, offers advice to aspiring researchers…A naturalist at heart, he plays down technology, math, even intelligence, proposing that a good scientist should be ‘bright enough to see what can be done but not too bright as to become bored doing it.’…delivers deep insights into how observation and experiment drive theory.†- Jascha Hoffman, New York Times“I want to express my gratitude. Thank you for reminding me and thousands of others why we became Âscientists. Your book Letters to a Young Scientist is first and foremost a book about passion and the delight of discovery.†- Bill Streever, New York Times Book Review“In this fund of practical and philosophical guidance distilled from seven decades of experience, Wilson provides exactly the right mentoring for scientists of all disciplines―and all ages… This is no pompous, deeply philosophical treatise on how great ideas develop. Wilson shares his simple love for ants and their natural history, revelling in them without hesitation. Everything else follows.†- Nature“Inspiring… Ought to be on the shelves of all high school and public libraries.†- Library Journal
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About the Author
Edward O. Wilson is widely recognized as one of the world’s preeminent biologists and naturalists. The author of more than thirty books, including Half-Earth, The Social Conquest of Earth, The Meaning of Human Existence, and Letters to a Young Scientist, Wilson is a professor emeritus at Harvard University. The winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he lives with his wife, Irene Wilson, in Lexington, Massachusetts.
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Product details
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Liveright; 1 edition (April 7, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0871403854
ISBN-13: 978-0871403858
Product Dimensions:
4.5 x 0.7 x 7.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.5 out of 5 stars
131 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#45,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
As its title implies, Edward Wilson's "Letters to a Young Scientist" (2013) is cast in the form of 20 letters addressed to young people who are considering science as a career. The book says a great deal about science and study, but it is much more. The book teaches that a person should have passion for what he or she chooses to make of life, whether in science or in another field. The book teaches about science and about the value of hard work and persistence. Thus, this short book can be read with pleasure not only by budding scientists but by general readers as well. I am retired and never seriously considered science as a career choice. Still, I want to discuss what I learned from Wilson's thinking.Wilson's accomplishments over a life devoted to science make his ideas worth considering. In a career of over 50 years as a biologist, most of which he spent teaching at Harvard, he has written prolifically both for lay readers and for scientists. He has founded the disciplines of sociobiology as well as the discipline of biogeography. Wilson won two Pulitzer Prizes, the Crawfoord Prize for ecology, and many other awards. He is also the world's leading authority on ants. In the "Letters", for example, he discusses a work that he wrote over an eight-year period late in his career: "Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant Hyperdiverse Ant Genus" (2003).Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Ant Genus This is obviously a work for specialists.It is unsurprising that Wilson relies on his own experience for much of the advice he gives in the Letters. His most important advice comes at the outset of the book and is reiterated many times. Wilson emphasizes the importance of passion and desire to a budding scientists. He writes:"My confessional instead is intended to illustrate an important principle I've seen unfold in the careers of many successful scientists. It is quite simple; put passion ahead of training. Feel out in any way you can what you most want to do in science, or technology, or some other science-related profession. Obey that passion as long as it lasts. Feed it with the knowledge the mind needs to grow. Sample other subjects, acquire a general education in science, and be smart enough to switch to a greater love if one appears. But don't just drift through courses in science hoping that love will come to you. Maybe it will, but don't take the chance. As in other big choices in your lfe, there is too much at stake. decision and hard work based on enduring passion will never fail you."Regardless of a person's career goal and regardless of the individual's stage in life, passion for what one does is critical for meaningful activity. Wilson illustrates his advice with discussion of his own life, beginning with his youthful fascination with biology and nature, including snakes, butterflies, and ants. He is a person who did with his life what he was born to do. After recounting experiences of his boyhood searching for insects, Wilson writes, "I've gone into this boyhood story to make a point that may be relevant to your own career trajectory. I have never changed."Wilson also discusses the importance of the entreprenurial spirit even for a field such as science with includes ambition, the ability to engage in many projects of various sizes at the same time, ambition to succeed, and the willingness to take risks. He again illustrates entrepreneurship in science with many examples from his own experience as a biologist and from his experience working with other scientists.Besides advice which has application beyond young people and beyond science, Wilson has much to say about scientific work itself. He describes the relationship between science and math, the tension between individual creativity and teamwork in science, the importance of mentorship, and much more. Wilson makes much of the importance of creativity, likening scientific accomplishment to the work of a poet, informed with background and hard work.I remain most impressed with Wilson's patient lifelong work learning about ants. He writes that when he began his career, there were perhaps a dozen specialists on ants in the world. From studying ants, Wilson broadened his focus to include ecology, evolutionary biology, sociobiology, and consilience -- synthesizing knowledge from various fields. But ants remained central. Wilson writes to prospective scientists of his massive study of "Pheidole" (a large genus of ants) that I mentioned above:"You may think of my story of ants as only a narrow slice of science, of interest chiefly to the researchers focused on it. You would be quite right. But it is nonetheless at a different level from an equally impassioned devotion to, say, fly fishing, Civil War battlegrounds, or Roman coins. The findings of its lesser grails are a permanent addition to knoweldge of the real world. They can be linked to other bodies of knowledge, and often the resulting networks of understanding lead to major advances in the overall epic of science."Wilson's Letters offer a great deal to young people interested in devoting their lives to science. The book also taught me, and will teach other non-scientific readers, much about science, scientific discovery, and the love of science. In its discussion of passion and commitment, exemplified in Wilson's life, the book has a universal message for people at all stages of life.Robin Friedman
So, I was more than a little surprised that a new book by EO Wilson was out for more than 8 seconds without a single review yet posted on Amazon. I rarely write a review unless I feel passionately about an item -- at one end of the spectrum or another -- but I could not resist the chance to write the first review for a book by a scientist whom I revere and admire for his indomitable energy and unrelenting productivity.I should preface my review by acknowledging that I am a somewhat biased devotee of Wilson's in that I think he and I share much in common: I am a snake biologist (Professor Wilson was nicknamed "Snake" by his comrades as a teenager, as he went through a three-year stint as an amateur ophiologist [a fancy word for "snake biologist"] before he turned to studying ants), I'm a Southerner (He is too.), I'm an evolutionary biologist (He is too.), an Eagle Scout (So is he.), a science educator (yep, you guessed it...), and I am a proponent of conserving biodiversity (and Ed is the proverbial Patriarch and Anointed High Priest of that unifying concept in science). I mention these aforementioned biases not to share my résumé, but because this book bends to all of those, among others. And so, as I rightly guessed, Mr. Wilson would draw upon a lot of these shared interests in order to make his points and teach us. (This may be a downside for those of you who connect more readily with chemistry, physics, or astronomy examples. This book might have been more aptly called "Letters to a Young Biologist", but I think the title the publishers went with is the right one.)I am also among Wilson's target readers -- young aspiring scientists, but more emphatically -- anyone who would love to be a success as a scientist. This book has helped me feel less daunted by the sometimes mistaken commonly perceived demands of science."Letters to a Young Scientist" is a clarion call for many MANY more people to join the ranks of natural scientists and to embrace a life of scientific investigation. Ed Wilson leaves no one with room for excuses to fail in this endeavor. He addresses the concept (or reality?) that if we humans are to survive the foreseeable future, we need to be a science-minded people.Perhaps some of the most comforting aspects of the book are that Wilson belabors the point that you don't need to be a math wiz or even have a high IQ to be a great scientist. (Ed did not take Calculus until he was a 32-year-old professor at Harvard, and his grade was a C.) He divulges his own IQ as a modest "If I can do it without genius levels, you can too" admission. In fact, he argues that a high IQ can be something of a detriment to a scientific career.Since many readers are likely to also be followers of Wilson's other works and thus, interested in biology, another book that I have found to have been written in a similar spirit of deep caring and empathy for the non-stereotypical and uninitiated scientist is Reading the Story in DNA: A Beginner's Guide to Molecular Evolution; it is written for the scientist interested in the whole organism, but who wants to understand how to DO and get started on molecular evolution research and techniques, WITHOUT all of the math. I think you'll love it.Okay. Now, back to "Letters"...Do I agree with everything written in this collection of sagely correspondence? No. One such point of contention for me was when Wilson admonished readers on how many hours they should expect to devote to teaching, administrative duties, research, etc if they choose an academic profession -- the part I didn't like was when he says [paraphrasing], "Only rest from work and seek diversion on weekends. Don't take vacations; real scientists don't take vacations. They go on field trips." As a herpetologist, I know of several friends and colleagues who use their vacation-time to take their families looking for snakes (for fun and research) in prime, wonderful habitat; they have formed rich memories that lasted a lifetime, and all family members seem to have enjoyed those times and remember them with fondness. I do hope to adopt that with my toddler. And perhaps Wilson's assertion is slightly tongue-in-cheek here, BUT, as a father, I'm also cautious to not subject my son in his vacation time to always doing dad's hobby or livelihood. And hey, I love Disney World, so my son won't know it's not totally for him. ;) But, once again, I digress...If you have already read other works by Wilson, you will likely see some redundancy of ideas and stories in this book, such as his informal rules of biological evolution he has pointed out in Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, for instance (i.e.. "For every unanswered problem or question in nature, there exists a species suited to solving that problem."). You will also hear of how he and MacArthur came up with the Theory of Island Biogeography. He uses his collection of examples and ideas as a teaching tool for how to think and create like a scientist. And keep in mind, this book is meant as an introductory rabble-rouser, in the best sense -- as a shot in the arm for the passionate tenderfoot -- so some review of Wilson's life's work is expected, albeit it is in a fresh, new light.And there are new nuggets of wisdom gleaned from over 60 years as an Ivy League researcher. He has offered two different ways that convergently lead to the formation of a scientist: (1) the problem-solver who often employs models -- organismal or otherwise -- to get to the bottom of unanswered questions, and (2) the naturalist who loves and finds pleasure in his or her favorite species or phenomenon for the sake of its mere existence, who tries to learn all that is currently known on the topic, and is naturally led to questions. Again, since Wilson is drawing on his own experience, he mostly explores the latter pathway to sciencedom.Overall, I would highly encourage young and old scientists to read this book. It is, as the title suggests, non-technical, and is suitable for high schoolers and mature-minded middle schoolers. (And older.) E.O. Wilson can indeed offer advice on most aspects of doing science, from encouraging "quick and sloppy" experiments on a whim (some of his own produced no noteworthy results for him at all; others paid handsome dividends beyond reasonable hope), the importance of daydreaming and fantasizing about science, taking the responsibility of being a world expert on a subject (which he asserts is often easier and quicker than most people think), to devising testable and successful frameworks of conceptual knowledge that we call scientific theories.I've a very sorry track record when it comes to finishing books, but I read this one in three or four days quite easily. It's a quick read, even for this notoriously slow, easily distracted reader. The main idea of this book is that you don't need to fit the stereotype of a scientist (e.g. math wiz, genius, poor communicator [I added that last one]) in order to be a good scientist. AND if you don't fit the stereotype, you are exactly what the world and scientific community at large really lacks. Ed Wilson says that the world needs your unique talents, badly. I agree. Happy reading! I would recommend this book as a gift to young people. Buy a copy, read it yourself, and then give it away.
This is a good book, but it seems more like an autobiography with some bits and pieces of wisdom here and there than an advice book or guide for young scientists. It does tell you some helpful tips, but too rarely for it to be advertised as an advice book. The one example he brings up through the book is his study on ants, which is great, and very interesting, don't get me wrong, but it seems like the study is too specific to use as an example for the entire topic of science. If it gave a bit more advice, this would be a great book. I'm sure some people still find it helpful, but it just wasn't really what I was looking for in this book.
I believe a more accurate but less catchy title would be "Letters from an Old Scientist". While I certainly respect Wilson, I believe he tries too hard to extrapolate his 50+ years of experience forward to the next 50 years. In so doing, he overestimates the relevance of challenges he faced decades ago in the future and neglects the tremendous disruptions that are happening today. I would have liked to hear more about the relevance of technology going forward. Genetic mapping and computer modeling are changing the ways research is done, yet little is mentioned. Also, the tremendous shift away from publicly financed research (especially in universities) towards the financially motivated private sector is diluting any "knowledge for knowledge's sake" initiatives. If you can't monetize it, you probably can't fund it.While I did find the book an interesting read, I wouldn't pass it on to college students today as guidance for a career in science.
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