E. O. Wilson is probably best known for two things his Island Biogeography theory and his subsequent work on biodiversity AND his ideas on social organisms and his founding of the field called sociobiology. These are just a few of his achievements. Dr. Wilson is the worlds expert of ants (Mrymecologist) and has had a long illustrious career full of scientific journal articles, many books and awards from many different areas including awards for the science of ecology, science in general, the public understanding of science, and several literature awards including two Pulitzer prizes. He has been a champion of the environment as a way to maintain species diversity - one often quoted saying from him: “Destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.” He is currently Professor Emeritus and curator of invertebrates at Harvard University where he had taught for many years.
In this latest book E.O. Wilson offers advice to up and coming scientists and students of science. Dr. Wilson had given a TED talk on just this subject (called advice to young scientist) before the book was published.
The idea behind this book brings to mind a book by our local Professor Emeritus here at UNL Dr. John Janovy, who’s book “On becoming a biologist” published some 30 years ago – or more – gives advice about entering this field of science.
Wilson’s book is set up as a series of “letters” each of which encompasses an advice theme. Though titled Letters to a young scientists E. O. Wilson’s advice, he admits, is best suited for the field of biology or ecology since that is his primarily area of interest. However his advice extends into science in general.
Let me sum up his advice for you in a few sentences but before I do this, understand the book is worth reading even if you know the advice and even if you’re not interested being a scientist, Dr. Wilson is a superb writer and thus worth reading just for the read.
Here is his advice in a nutshell, slightly oversimplified:
1. Scientist; “The world needs you, badly”, push, pull, do all that you can do to keep doing the best, most interesting science that you can do.
2. The most interesting science is original science.
3. You will make mistakes; try not to make big ones.
The most eye-opening part of the book for me was his discussions on math. He basically says, don’t sweat it. Try to understand as much math as possible but you can do biology without too much math. Certainly math skills are required (and knowledge of statistics is the most critical) but one can have a career in biology without jumping headlong into complex mathematics. On the other hand some aspects of biology, which really encompasses a huge variety of divergent fields, require higher mathematical ability.
I am heartened to see that many schools seem to have reversed the trend that occurred when I was first in college, which was adding more math requirements for a biology degree. The problem was not the math itself but the classes students missed in order to fulfill their math requirements and still graduate in a timely fashion. The courses that tended to suffer were field courses and courses that spent more time studying whole organisms.
Dr. Wilson brings up this idea when discussing a passion for science, or more specifically a passion for an area of science. He feels this is best served if you have or gain a passion for a particular organism or groups of organisms. This is critical, he believes, to get as much out of and to put as much into your chosen field. The increasing focus on more math skills has lead students away from becoming more knowledgeable about specific organisms.
The author also takes up the dilemma of science and politics (or a changing political climate) with one quick idea: If the research is sound, over time, it will always come out on top over changing political ideals.
The book is semi-biographical since as he imparts his advice he relates his life experiences. These life experiences I found to be my favorite part of the book.
This ant expert, Harvard scholar, writer and philosopher on a huge array of topics, has a reverence for science, and scientist and for the planet: He displays this in his newest book Letters to a young scientist, which is worth a read for any number of reasons, including if you are a young scientist.