By John Davis
Special to THE DAILY

We’ve all played the mental game of “What if.” What if you were on an island, and could have only one person as company? What person would that be?

This parlor game is in a certain sense what “Avoid Boring People” is about. James D. Watson, who many will know as the author of “The Double Helix,” is past Director of our National Center for Genome Research, and the National Institute of Health. He earned not only the highest American civilian award, the Medal of Freedom, but the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

Such a man’s views are not to be taken lightly. And he does not suffer boring people well.

Life in science

In this remarkably readable book, which brings to us his “lessons from a life in science,” we are led through a host of chapters, each taken from some aspect of his long and rewarding life.

Chapters, such as life lessons “from managing cancer research,” lead to lessons learned from “being edited by Harvard University Press.” These insights follow “childhood lessons,” those of adolescence, young adulthood and many others that will keep the reader entranced.

Watson met everyone. Jonas Salk, of the polio vaccine; Oppenheimer and Pauling of the atomic bomb era; MIT professors; Harvard fellow professors; and nearly every renowned scientist of the last half century populate this volume. Their views, and how they impressed Watson, are the keys to learning something of how to comport oneself to achieve in the world of scientific research.

We are taken through what could possibly be a book written from notes derived from a Power Point presentation. Each chapter is subdivided into significant elements by boldfaced type. “Close competitors should publish simultaneously” and “choose an objective apparently ahead of its time” are among the more academic bits of advice.

Then we are cautioned to “rent, not buy, tails” when we come up for our Noble Prize award. (Fortunately, we are also cautioned on how most profitably to employ the year immediately after having received such an award.) I hope this is written tongue-in-cheek.

Not shy

Throughout, from his youth in Chicago to his reflection upon his Harvard years and legacy, Watson is not shy. He names names. He is less than reticent to hold forth on the recent scandal at Harvard Yard. In all, this is a step-by-step admonishment to the next generation on how to succeed.

Perhaps, with luck and perseverance, you too might read this book. It counsels those seeking a rewarding career on how to proceed. It is less than altruistic, offering an almost ruthless objectivity and goal orientation as watchwords.

One must carefully note what one wants to remember, however, as this book lacks an index. It attempts to make up for it though with a who’s who of all the names dropped, which, I suppose, is one of the tips as well.

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