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Summary
Summary
Pulitzer Prize-winning biologist Edward O. Wilson imparts the wisdom of his storied career to the next generation.
Edward O. Wilson has distilled sixty years of teaching into a book for students, young and old. Reflecting on his coming-of-age in the South as a Boy Scout and a lover of ants and butterflies, Wilson threads these twenty-one letters, each richly illustrated, with autobiographical anecdotes that illuminate his career--both his successes and his failures--and his motivations for becoming a biologist. At a time in human history when our survival is more than ever linked to our understanding of science, Wilson insists that success in the sciences does not depend on mathematical skill, but rather a passion for finding a problem and solving it. From the collapse of stars to the exploration of rain forests and the oceans' depths, Wilson instills a love of the innate creativity of science and a respect for the human being's modest place in the planet's ecosystem in his readers.
Author Notes
He was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1929. He is currently Pellegrino University Research Professor & Honorary Curator in Entomology of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard. He is on the Board of Directors of the Nature Conservancy, Conservation International & the American Museum of Natural History. He lives in Lexington, Massachusetts.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard biologist Wilson (On Human Nature) muses on the nature of scientific investigation, his illustrious career, and what it takes to be a scientist in this thoroughly enjoyable collection of faux epistles. Though the frame feels a little unnecessary, Wilson covers plenty of fertile ground. He's at his best when lucidly articulating why science is so very important, and not just in terms of cures or curiosities: "Science is the wellspring of modern civilization. It is not just 'another way of knowing,' to be equated with religion or transcendental meditation." In addition to these broader defenses of the discipline, he also offers practical advice on framing scientific hypotheses and the importance of collaborative work, as well as personal reminiscences-tales of his early years as a Boy Scout naturalist in Alabama, for example, add a richness and intimacy to the book. Critically aware of his-and his successors'-moments in time, and what kinds of problems the next generation of scientists will be dealing with (e.g., environmental issues), Wilson ultimately offers an encouraging call to arms: "Time is growing short... you are needed." 21 illus. Agent: Ike Williams, Kneerim, Williams & Bloom. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* What is this grand enterprise called science that has lit up heaven and earth and empowered humanity? Wilson, a foremost authority on ants and biodiversity now in his eighties, has dedicated his life to this culture of illuminations in the field and laboratory and as a Harvard professor and best-selling writer. In his newest book, he offers candid guidance and profound inspiration to young scientists. The world needs you--badly, Wilson writes, explaining that our very survival depends on our learning enough about life on earth to halt our deleterious impact on the biosphere. Put passion ahead of training, Wilson advises, and don't let a fear of math stop you. Hard work and entrepreneurship, he assures readers, are more important than native genius. Practical advice, reflections, and funny and dramatic stories of his own pioneering scientific adventures and breakthroughs make for an enlivening and affecting mixture of memoir, philosophy, and instruction that brings into focus the highest missions of science. Wilson's celebration of creativity and discipline, love for the living world, and commitment to explicating its wonders and fragility will uplift every reader, no matter her or his calling. Warm, sage, and compelling, this concise and mighty book of wisdom and encouragement belongs in every library.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
DEAR Professor Wilson: We have never met, but I write to you now as a man in the middle of my own less illustrious scientific career who sees you as something of a living icon and a hero. I want to express my gratitude. Thank you for reminding me and thousands of others why we became scientists. Your book "Letters to a Young Scientist" is first and foremost a book about passion and the delight of discovery. You celebrate the work of your colleagues, friends and graduate students. You relish memories of your childhood, catching snakes in Alabama, settling early on a life of biology and undertaking expeditions in Australia, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu. You show us that the enthusiasm of youth has survived over a career that spans 60 years, in which you've identified some 450 ant species, written 27 books and won two Pulitzer Prizes. Your book includes two photographs posted side by side: one of you as a boy in Mobile, Ala., in 1942, the other of you last year, an octogenarian on the summit of Gorongosa Mountain, Mozambique. In both, you are peering into a butterfly net, engrossed in your find. The chapter heading reads simply, "I Never Changed." I thank you, too, for emphasizing the diversity of life. "Life on earth remains so little known," you write, "that you can be a scientific explorer without leaving home." You describe the wealth of species lurking in a rotting tree trunk or in a square meter of soil. You remind us of the work yet to be done, that fewer than two million of the estimated 10 million species on Earth have been named and described. And then there are your beloved ants: "angry" Aneuretus simoni, primitive Nothomyrmecia macrops and the Mesozoic Sphecomyrma freyi. You use these ants to show us that it is not so much the organism of choice that brings success to the biologist, but how it is used to generate and test hypotheses. Readers will find encouragement and inspirational maxims scattered throughout the book: "So much has been written, yet so very little is known." "A real scientist is someone who can think about a subject while talking to his or her spouse about something else." And my favorite: "I like to call Earth a little-known planet." You offer philosophical guidance - "Deep ignorance, when properly handled, is also superb opportunity" - and practical career advice: "Unless your training and research commit you to a major research facility, for example a supercollider, space telescope or stem-cell laboratory, do not linger too long with any one technology. There will be a temptation for a young scientist to build a career in the new technology itself rather than to make original studies that can be performed with it." You do not, as one might expect of a scientist and a professor, value mathematics above all else. Instead, you confess your own shortcomings in the realm of numbers, and you advise young scientists who share your weakness to collaborate with mathematicians. Your good counsel reveals how profoundly this kind of dialogue is missing from our science departments. Young scientists must hear from older scientists. They need to learn what has inspired their mentors, what has sustained them and what has slowed them down. They need to hear about what it means to experience science as a vocation, and the variety of ways they can pursue it, not only in the academy but also in government agencies, nonprofit organizations and the private sector. And scientists at all levels need to be reminded to "stay on the path you've chosen, and . . . travel on it as far as you can. The world needs you - badly." With sincerity, from an aging biologist who has had to find his own way. 'Deep ignorance, when properly handled, is superb opportunity.' Bill Streever's latest book is "Heat: Adventures in the World's Fiery Places."
Choice Review
Wilson (emer., Harvard Univ.) is a renowned researcher, a scholar, an award-winning prolific writer, and an innovative thinker. This concise book is an intellectual road map to becoming a competent, deeply committed scientist, which Wilson has been from formative childhood scientific endeavors right through his past seven decades. The compilation of 20 unique, clear letters is divided into five realms: "The Path to Follow," "The Creative Process," "A Life in Science," "Theory and the Big Picture," and "Truth and Ethics" (scientists' moral behavior). A trained entomologist, Wilson still ventures into a variety of topics, demonstrating his lifelong enthusiasms. He focuses on how to think scientifically, strongly supports being passionate in a choice of study, advocates the importance of having a mentor, and emphasizes keeping an open mind. He demystifies stereotypic qualities supposedly needed to be a scientist, such as high IQ and mathematical ability. Wilson articulates the need and benefits for more synthesis between the sciences and humanities. This book will enlighten readers exploring diverse possibilities for scientific careers, especially secondary school students, and females and minorities, who are underrepresented in the sciences. The volume includes photographs related to Wilson's career, but surprisingly lacks a bibliography. Summing Up: Highly recommended. High school students through graduate students; science educators. J. N. Muzio emeritus, CUNY Kingsborough Community College
Kirkus 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. Pulitzer Prize winner Wilson (The Social Conquest of Earth, 2012, etc.), whose book's title is reminiscent of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, is not, however, writing to one young man but to a generation of potential scientists. After a prologue in which the author assures would-be scientists of their importance in our technoscientific world, he groups 20 letters into five sections. In Part I, "The Path to Follow," he offers a set of guiding principles. Surprisingly, the first is designed to comfort students who fear going into science because they lack confidence in their math skills. Not to worry, he counsels, for one can always find collaborators with the necessary mathematical skills. Most important, he advises, is to find a field that interests you, that stirs your passion, that you can call your own, and then become an expert in it. In Part II, "The Creative Process," Wilson discusses the nature of science, the scientific method, how scientists think creatively and what it takes to succeed. In "A Life in Science," he relates events from his career, discoveries he and others made, and how they made them. In "Theory and the Big Picture," Wilson again uses concrete examples from his own work to show how hypotheses are tested and how theories are developed. Finally, he closes with a discussion of proper behavior in working with other scientists, in conducting research and in publishing results. The take-home message is that enthusiasm, creativity, curiosity and persistence are the keys to success. Glows with one man's love for science.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Wilson (biology, emeritus, Harvard; The Social Conquest of Earth) embraces the role of eminence grise here, aiming to instruct and inspire. In five thematic sections, he presents 20 "letters" (five- to ten-plus pages each) examining the scientist's role in the 21st century, the foundations and credos that remain in place, and the manner in which the field has changed. He weaves in his own autobiography-including lessons on ants-as he advises on subjects such as finding your specialty and having a mentor. Some of the science lessons are very basic, e.g., he assumes readers know little or nothing about Linnaeus or Darwin, but others are broad and inspiring. Most intriguing may be his urging readers to indulge in daydreaming to aid their scientific thinking, as well as his idea that "the right question is intellectually superior to finding the right answer." A piece near the end on "The Making of Theories" is very rewarding. A reference to the "radical leftist writers" who disliked his blockbuster, Sociobiology (1975), may hint at an ornery nature, but the book is largely amiable. -VERDICT Although the title and small format may suggest the book as a gift for graduates, it ought to be on the shelves of all high school and public libraries, as well as some undergraduate collections.-Margaret Heilbrun, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
