Avoid Boring People: Lessons from a Life in Science

From Nobel Prize—winning scientist James D. Watson, a living legend for his work unlocking the structure of DNA, comes this candid and entertaining memoir, filled with practical advice for those starting out their academic careers.

In Avoid Boring People, Watson lays down a life's wisdom for getting ahead in a competitive world. Witty and uncompromisingly honest, he offers young scientists advice on choosing the right projects, and shares his thoughts on the supreme importance of collegiality and dealing with competitors within the same institution. It's an irreverent romp through Watson's colorful career and an indispensable guide to anyone interested in nurturing the life of the mind.

From a living legend—James D. Watson, who shared the Nobel Prize for having revealed the structure of DNA—a personal account of the making of a scientist. In Avoid Boring People, the man who discovered “the secret of life” shares the less revolutionary secrets he has found to getting along and getting ahead in a competitive world.

Recounting the years of his own formation—from his father’s birding lessons to the political cat’s cradle of professorship at Harvard—Watson illuminates the progress of an exemplary scientific life, both his own pursuit of knowledge and how he learns to nurture fledgling scientists. Each phase of his experience yields a wealth of age-specific practical advice. For instance, when young, never be the brightest person in the room or bring more than one date on a ski trip; later in life, always accept with grace when your request for funding is denied, and—for goodness’ sake—don’t dye your hair. There are precepts that few others would find occasion to heed (expect to gain weight after you win your Nobel Prize, as everyone will invite you to dinner) and many more with broader application (do not succumb to the seductions of golf if you intend to stay young professionally). And whatever the season or the occasion: avoid boring people.

A true believer in the intellectual promise of youth, Watson offers specific pointers to beginning scientists about choosing the projects that will shape their careers, the supreme importance of collegiality, and dealing with competitors within the same institution, even one who is a former mentor. Finally he addresses himself to the role and needs of science at large universities in the context of discussing the unceremonious departure of Harvard's president Larry Summers and the search for his successor.

Scorning political correctness, this irreverent romp through Watson’s life and learning is an indispensable guide to anyone plotting a career in science (or most anything else), a primer addressed both to the next generation and those who are entrusted with their minds.

Marianne Stowell Bracke - Library Journal

Watson and Francis Crick, along with other lesser-known scientists (see Brenda Maddox's Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA), will forever be remembered as the discoverers of the double helix structure of DNA in the 1950s. Since then, Watson, currently chancellor at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York State, has remained an active participant in academics and scientific research. Part memoir, part essay on life, Watson's latest book (after Genes, Girls and Gamow) is surprisingly wry, witty, and instructional as he shares lessons and offers useful advice-hard-won through years of experience navigating the politics of academia and the scientific community-that runs from the humorous (e.g., "manage your scientists like a baseball team") to the wise (e.g., "ask the dean only for what he can give"). He also recognizes the need for bridging the worlds of science and nonscience to share big discoveries that can have a major impact on both spheres. He is concerned with educating future scientists on ways to balance life in and out of the laboratory for the benefit of all. Recommended for all academic and public libraries.

James D. Watson was director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York from 1968 to 1993 and is now its chancellor. He was the first director of the National Center for Human Genome Research of the National Institutes of Health from 1989 to 1992. A member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society, he has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, and, with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962.