- Research Manuscripts Should Tell Really Good Stories
Book Review: The Art of Scientific Storytelling by Rafael E. Luna, PhD
Chapter 1: Introduction
Skim or skip. This section promotes the book and the promising ideas it conveys, when many of us (me, me, me) just want to get to the meat of the book. After several pages it reads ...
- Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide
“My goal is to help rid the world of ineffective graphs, one exploding, 3D pie chart at a time.”
Drawing from the fields of graphic illustration, functional art, behavioral science and storytelling, Storytelling with Data by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic is a must for academics who ...
- Writing in Academia: An Interview with Helen Sword
Helen Sword has made a career of studying how academic writers write. You may know her from The Writer’s Diet book and online test to tell if your writing is flabby or fit. Maybe you've tried to emulate the elegant expression of ideas surveyed and analyzed in Stylish Academic W...
- Academic Reads: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
With uplifting chapters entitled "Emotions are Overrated", "Victimhood Chic" and "Don't Try" Mark Manson's advice on life and career is anything but subtle. Think of it like taking advice from former Jet Blue employee Steven Slater who ended his 28 year flight attendant career by...
- Email: Do It Well
In my quest to model good reading behavior, I often check out books to peruse while my kids read. Recently I picked up Send: Why People Email so Badly and How to Do It Better. I admit I was wondering what a book could teach me about e-mail, but it turned out to be very useful. F...
- The Power of Pause: How to be More Effective in a Demanding, 24/7 World
Count to ten! Take a deep breath! But what next? These time-tested techniques are often not enough when conflict threatens to jeopardize a project, although Nance Guilmartin does use this advice as a first step.
Guilmartin suggests that we get “curious, not furious," leading...
- Regrouping to Gain Resilience & Resolve
Scenario*:
Early career faculty member with perfect academic pedigree and several strong first-authored publications.
Currently at mid-point of second year on tenure track.
Rushed resubmission of career development grant.
Did not incorporate advice and or use availa...
- Simple Steps to Validating and Managing Others: A Bedtime Story
You may be scoffing at finding time to read, but let’s face it, if you want to reach the next level you have to reach for it purposefully. As a K-level scholar, I know my next step is managing a large research team, and I need some additional management skills to round out my sk...
- Small Wins for Sustained Success: The Progress Principle
Don’t let your lab’s fortunes sink like the Titanic, to borrow the opening simile from The Progress Principle. Read this book instead and find out how to facilitate daily progress among yourself, your coworkers, and your subordinates, leading to “virtuous loops” of small success...
- Why You Should Read The Creative Habit
So you’re not a dancer. You’re not a musician. You’re not an artist or a poet. Why read this book? Because you have ideas: ideas for new population studies, new treatments for disease, and new ways to look at data. And this book will give you the habits that beget more good ...
