Learning is Important Updated
Classical higher education in a scientific discipline (university and graduate school) should teach one how to self-educate. For example, I left undergraduate school knowing how to pick up a state-of-the-art paper in biochemistry and walk into a well-equipped laboratory to try to reproduce the reported observations and results. I also knew such an endeavor would sometimes succeed while at other times it would fail, and that when it did fail, I could reach out to original authors to discuss and compare data. Graduate School and Post-doctoral training introduced science's insatiable appetite for novelty, and other traditions such as scholarly rigor, fair attribution, laboratory funding, and the international scope of scientific collaboration. For me the decision to join a biotech company, over doing a second academic post-doc, represented trading potential academic freedom for the knowledge that bottles of medicine, medicine to which my work had contributed, would be going to patients. Knowing I did not have to give up the lifelong commitment to read and self-educate, particularly through books, made taking up my original role in biopharmaceutical R&D less traumatic. In all roles spanned by my professional career in biochemistry I “walked the talk” of my trade.
Here are some books I read recently and would recommend.
The Savage Mind (1966). Levi-Strauss C. Chicago, Univ. of Chicago Press (re-read)
The Use and Abuse of Biology (1976). Sahlins M. Ann Arbor, Univ. of Michigan Press (re-read)
Once Upon an Algorithm (2017). Erwig M. Cambridge Massachusetts, The MIT Press.
Data Science (2018). Kelleher J.J. and Tierney B. Cambridge Massachusetts, The MIT Press.
Willful Ignorance (2014). Weisberg H.I. Hoboken, New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons.
The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom (2016) Stigler S.M. Cambridge Massachusetts, Harvard University Press.
Whiplash (2016) Ito J. and Howe J. New York, Grand Central Publishing (Hachette Book Group).
The Magic of Reality (2012) Dawkins R. New York, Simon and Schuster (Free Press eBook)
Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921) Freud S. translated by Strachey J. New York, (1960) Bantam Books (re-read).
Educated (2018) Westover T. New York, Random House.
Growth (2019) Smil V. Cambridge Massachusetts, The MIT Press.
The Knowledge Illusion (2017). Sloman S. and Fernbach P. New York, Riverhead Books.
The Enigma of Reason (2017) Mercier H. and Sperber D. Cambridge Massachusetts, Harvard University Press.
Girl Decoded (2020) el Kaliouby R. New York, Currency (Random House).
So You Want to Talk About Race (2019) Oluo I. New York, Seal Press (Hachette).
What You Do is Who You Are (2019) Horowitz B. New York, Harper Collins.
Robot-Proof (2017) Aoun JA. Cambridge Massachusetts, The MIT Press.
A New Earth (2005, 2016) Tolle E. New York, Penguin Books (Random House).
White Fragility (2018) Diangelo R. Boston, Beacon Press.
Workbook for White Fragility (2020) Roger Press.
Talking to Strangers (2019) Gladwell M. Hachette Audio.
Leadership in Turbulent Times (2018) Goodwin DK. New York, Simon and Schuster.
Noble Savages (2013) Chagnon, N. A. New York, Simon and Schuster.
The Knowledge Machine (2020) Strevens, M. Livewright Publishing Corporation, New York NY USA.
The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT DevOps and Helping Your Business Win (2013) Kim G. IT Revolution Press, Portland OR USA.