Summer reading
Paul Smaglik
Wednesday, 10 June 2009 19:13 UTC
In a recent Prospect, I wrote about how to read. I’d like to follow this up with a discussion of what scientists should read. One criteria I use is picking works that satisfy one’s intellectual and creative curiosity. The default, of course, is keeping up with journal articles and books from one’s specialty. But that provides the bare minimum. Great books—whether they are fiction or nonfiction, classics or contemporary—should take one out of one’s comfort zone and, ideally, expose you to stories you might be unfamiliar with, told in novel ways.
Several scientists I’ve interviewed over the years also take this approach. I remember discussing contemporary literature with former US National Institutes of Health Director Harold Varmus in his office at Memorial Sloan Kettering and feeling a frission of how his curiosity informs his approach to his scientific work. I was also gratified to learn that a renowned biotech pioneer in Seattle had a wide-ranging appetite for modern work as well as a taste for the classics. I was also pleased to learn that James Watson, who helped elucidate DNA’s double helix structure loved Sinclair Lewis’ Arrowsmith , one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors.
So, where, and how to start? Well, the web provides several great resources. The Royal Society offers a great list. Sigma Xi publishes a fabulous feature called Scientists’ Nightstand, where researchers talk about influential reads from both the scientific and nonscientific world. And last year, the New Scientist asked several marquee-name researchers about books that changed their lives.
In my next post, I’ll talk about what I’m readi g ande why. In the meantime, I look forward to hearing what’s on your nightstand!
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Replies
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i personally suggest reading books that have lasted over centuries. there is a lot of wisdom in them and they’ve lasted so long not because of advertising, and not just because we’re “forced” to read some of them at school.
check out the Great Books of the Western World and pick by interest.
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Funny you should mention the classics, Hildi. I was thinking about this for my next post. here goes:
In my literature “autodidact” project (coming to the web someday, maybe), I’m trying to read all the books in three major “Top 100” lists. There are some gaps within each list and overlaps when merged into a “meta-list”. But I’ve found that, when taken together, these three lists are surprisingly complementary and should serve as inspiration to scientists and non-scientists alike.
For spatial and temporal sweep, it’s hard to argue with The Norwegian Book Club’s list of the 100 all-time greatest works
The list’s range over the history of the written word and inclusion of works from Iceland to Africa reminds me to not discount any one region of the world—valuable advice to a journalist covering global career issue. And it’s fun for a reader to find surprises in story-telling from the past.The Modern Library Top 100 entries demonstrate the importance of perspective and how it changes over time. This list angered some people because they thought key perspectives—like women and non-Westerners—were left out (although I’d argue the inclusions by writers like V.S. Naipul and Salman Rushdie, although ostensibly British, really reflect their roots). Some of the biggest reminders of how time shapes perspectives come when comparing works written before and after each of the century’s two world wars. Many of the early works, like stuff by DH Lawrence and Henry James, includes detailed descriptions and long, linear plots, just like 19th century works by Tolstoy and Dickens. But after WWI, this style gave way to the minimalism of Sherwood Anderson and Willa Cather, who set the stage for Ernest Hemingway. Of course, James Joyce’s Ullyssess ushered in the concept of postmodernism decades before it received that name. And Faulkner followed Joyce’s lead in using shifting perspective and sometimes non-reliable narrators. The literature out of World War II introduces another shift. Norman Mailer’s “The Naked and the Dead” featuered a Faulkner-style shifting perspective, but essentially played the plot straight. Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” ushered in contradictions and absurdities, while Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five” mixed in science fiction tropes along with realistic war writing to hammer home these points. For scientists, these works in particular and the 20th century list as a whole, points to both the benefits and dangers of widening perspectives. On the positive, it’s good to cast a wide net. On the negative, watch out for that unreliable nararrator!
The overlaps between the Modern Library’s list and Time magazine’s 100 entries hammer home these points about perspective and the additions sweeten it with style. The Time list corrects some of the Modern Library list problems by avoiding the “19th-century-in-the 20th-century” stuff, including more women and minorities and including more stuff from the past 20 years. That’s probably the most exiting –and dangerous—aspect of this list. It’s exciting, because it’s great to see innovative narrative approaches—like Alan Moore’s seminal graphic novel “Watchmen” recognized. But it’s dangerous because in art as in science, we can be blinded by the novelty and the shock of the new; it takes time to really evaluate something whether it’s literature or lab results.
Anyone can quibble over the order of all these lists and the inclusion of one work or another. But what I can’t argue with is that each work that I’ve read so far (about 2/3 of the total combined list) has taught me something I can use in my approaches in both teaching and journalism. For scientists, I’d say that this body of work reminds us that there are always new stories and new ways to tell them. And sometimes, you need to turn to the classics to do so.
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Yep I’m all for the classics.
Uhm, the times url doesn’t seem to work but the other two lists seem pretty good.
You’re a bit of a reading geek Paul, and unless you’ve learnt to speed-read, most people will find this long list a bit daunting. How would you suggest picking say the top 20 for the next two years (roughly a book a month)? I also know that many will have other things that they need to read, as opposed to optional reading, so we don’t really want to overwhelm people.
In my experience what I have found really useful are audiobooks. This has definitely helped me save time, as I can listen to them while multi-tasking ie cleaning, painting, on the train, etc
Books can be quite costly and I know there are a few resources where you can download excerpts or even entire books for free on the internet. Would you know of any of these resources? Can you tell that I’m not a big fan of the library? ;)
Thanks, Paul.
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I AM a bit of a reading geek and reading remains one of many baroque Procrastination Rituals I employ before I actually commit my own words to paper or screen. I’d like to emphasize that these lists are for a lifetime, not for a year or two.
I suffered a major wave of insecurity when the Modern Library list was published in 2000. I was chagrined to find I’d only read about a third of that list (I tend to read many works from favorite authors, rather than range broadly and that list helped me refocus my priorities).
After the initial irrational urge to do a classic literature binge, I decided to savor the list, rather than banging through it soon as possible. That approach also allowed me to continue reading contemporary stuff, media and nonfiction. The subsequent lists helped me by widening my reading pursuits more (timeless world literature from the Norwegian list and more contemporary stuff via the Time list
As for free online books, here’s a list of 25 sites
One of the first, most famous and most reliable, is Project Gutenberg
I’ve never read an online book, preferring the feel and smell of paper. Public libraries are a good source of books for me (props to the Milwaukee Public Library, where you can request books online and pick them up from the most convenient branch). I also frequent used book stores (Madison, Wisconsin has a high concentration of independent used book stores). And you can buy used books cheap online from Amazon and other sites.
As for audiobooks, I have mixed feelings. A contemporary book, read by the author (if she or he has a good reading voice) is fun. Positive listening experiences, for me are the recent Steve Martin autobiography, Sarah Vowell’s “Assassination Vacation”, and pretty much anything by David Sedaris. I’m not sure how I feel about classics read by contemporary people—but am not officially opposed.
The main thing about reading—no matter the source or format of the material—is that it’s opened me up to different approaches to writing and the insight into differet literary characters has, I think, gives me insight into the people I interview and write about. The more I read, the more I see how disparate things are—or can be—connected. And that’s the main benefit I see for scie tists who read non-science writing.
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that’s actually a really good point as well – autobiographies and biographies! a lot us assume that anyone who’s made it big had it easier than us or has something we don’t have. bullshit. biogs give a better view of what it took some people to get where they are, and also a view of how those people really aren’t that different to us. ask yourself how you are like those people and “own” their traits! (i might be going off on a tangent, but all the same, autobiogs/biogs good).
yes, reading is a life work, but not everyone cares about reading as much as you do. regardless of people’s views on reading, i would suggest that anyone commit to a certain amount of books/audiobooks a year, it doesn’t matter how many, but it would be preferable to pick a few that have stood the test of time, and not just the “holiday reading” type of books, although there’s nothing wrong with them.
i love books, and when i think about moving abroad again, my main worry is how to take my books with me. oh well.
david sedaris is absolutely hilarious on audio! very enjoyable.
thanks for the lists and the ideas, very useful!
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When I want to read something I am guided by a review of a person I know. I can also look or ask on forums for people’s recommendations.
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Which forums do you use for this Normy?
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I’d say a mix between classics and modern literature. Thank you for providing the lists, I’ll have a look at them…In my web I suggest some books I’ve liked a lot, if you want to have a look in the I recommend section
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Recently read Jeffrey Eugenides’ ‘Middlesex’ and was pleasantly surprised to see an interesting treatment of genetics discussed. I don’t actively seek out “science in fiction” (literature serves as one escape from science writing and reading), but thought this treatment was quite interesting; it didn’t dominate the story, but lurked in the background (mingling of family gene pools contributing to the main character’s hermaphrodite condition).
So, I have two questions for everyone:
-How accurate is the genetics in ‘Middlesex’?
-Read anything where you were surprised to find science, or else have you read something that has inadvertently contributed to your scientific thought?
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