Book Review of The Chicago Guide to Your Career in Science: A Toolkit for Students and Postdocs

Abstract

The primary audience for this book is novice scientists who are still in training and contemplating a career in research. Although aimed at students (graduate and undergraduate) and postdoctoral fellows, this comprehensive reference could also be used by teachers and mentors of those contemplating a career in the sciences. The book even offers implicit advice to high school students in choosing a college or university: look for good teaching and undergraduate research. The authors acknowledge that many books already cover some of the individual topics in this book, yet theirs is the only comprehensive source. The book is organized in two parts: the stages of a research career, and conducting and presenting research. Part 1 describes navigating the graduate school, postdoctoral, and job search processes. Topics covered include selecting advisors, research projects, effective teaching, and other career choices. Part 2 incorporates details such as the meaning and ethics of research, notebooks, teamwork, creativity, motivation, time management, managing information, and communicating (speaking, writing, meetings, presentations). Students in all the sciences are addressed, although in this reviewer's opinion the biomedical sciences (perhaps related to the backgrounds of the authors) are stressed or more commonly exemplified. However, the book has much material of interest to chemistry and chemists, especially in these days of combined science departments, interdisciplinary research, and changes in career paths. For chemists, the specifics of information acquisition and management as well as writing are probably better covered elsewhere, including Write Like a Chemist: A Guide and Resource, reviewed in this Journal (1). Although an excellent resource overall, this book has some deficiencies. The attempt to be comprehensive leads not surprisingly to inadequate detail for several of the topics. Although an attempt is made to present alternative or nonresearch careers, some fields are ignored. For example, technical information and library careers are not mentioned at all. Jobs in industry and government are described, but there is no mention of contract research organizations. Key resources for individual topics are listed, but insufficient editing results in both editions of Robbins-Roth, Alternative Careers in Science (2), being cited. The books by Borchardt (3) (Career Management for Scientists and Engineers) and Fetzer (4) (Career Management for Chemists) are directed at more experienced scientists but contain much of the information in this book. The book by Balbes (Nontraditional Careers for Chemists) (5) covers alternative careers much better. Unfortunately, these books are not cited in The Chicago Guide. However, these are minor quibbles. This book is an essential resource for individuals contemplating careers in the sciences, as well as for their teachers and mentors. With all of this information provided at a good price, the book should be on the bookshelf (or readily available) to most if not all readers of this Journal and their students.