Every Other Thursday: Stories and Strategies from Successful Women Scientists [Hardcover]

Ellen Daniell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 10, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0300113234 | ISBN-13: 978-0300113235 | Edition: 1

This book tells the story of a professional problem-solving group that for more than 25 years has empowered its members by providing practical and emotional support. The objective of “Group,” as Ellen Daniell and six other members call their bimonthly gatherings, is cooperation in a competitive world. And the objective of Every Other Thursday is to encourage those who feel isolated or stressed in a work or academic setting to consider the benefits of such a group—a group in which everyone is on your side.

Each of the high-achieving individuals in Group (including members of the National Academy of Sciences, a senior scientist at a prestigious research institute, and university professors and administrators) has found the support of the others to be an essential part of her own success. Daniell provides detailed examples of how members help one another navigate career setbacks or other difficulties. She shows that group support, discussion, and application of common experience bring to light practical solutions and broader perspectives. In an inspirational conclusion, the author offers advice and practical guidelines for those who would like to establish a group of their own.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Molecular biologist Daniell and fellow women scientists created a support network to commiserate and strategize about the difficulties of being female in the still male-dominated world of science. Founded on the precepts of radical psychiatry, the group (called simply Group) gathers every other week with a format that will be familiar to anyone who's sat through a women's group session: time is set aside for each member to discuss issues in her life, and others encourage her to verbalize all of her emotions while offering support. The lesson that a feminine support system is important to a modern career-driven woman is not new, nor is it limited to science. But the book's real failing is that instead of addressing Group members' journeys through science as women, it focuses on the same career roadblocks, personal disasters and need for self-empowerment that one finds in any self-help book ("I am entitled to be myself. I'm entitled to be successful"). Rather than hard-nosed help for aspiring young women scientists, this book, while it includes interesting passages on the machinations of university politics, essentially offers material that should best have remained within the Group. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Daniell, former professor of molecular biology and 25-year member of a support group for women scientists, offers a personal look at her group based on the principles of radical psychiatry. Daniell and her sister scientists established a group dynamic in which each member asks for a specific time period in which to raise an issue and seek constructive and practical feedback. The group explores ways to navigate through such professional problems as time management; the challenges inherent in university structures, including the publish-or-perish edict; the hard road to tenure; and mentoring students. Issues outside their professional lives come under scrutiny as well, including family problems, illness, and retirement plans. These successful, high-achieving women hope to foster cooperation in the increasingly competitive academic world, offering guidelines for women and men who are interested in establishing their own version of a working group. Daniell's sharp writing style and focus make this a pleasurable and informative read. Pamela Crossland
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 296 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1 edition (March 10, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300113234
• ISBN-13: 978-0300113235
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,004,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for all professionals, October 13, 2006

By 

Laura L. Mays Hoopes "woman in science" (Claremont, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Every Other Thursday: Stories and Strategies from Successful Women Scientists (Hardcover)

Let's say you have problems at work. You have an unreasonable deadline. You're up for promotion. Your boss seems intent on attacking you. You are going to have a baby and that's not welcome news at work. You feel excluded from important conversations. No one will go to lunch with you. Ellen Daniell tells us all a great way to handle these work-related emergencies and bad vibes: form a weekly discussion group focused on professional issues.

In addition to providing friendships, now at a premium in this society, the group can say how strategies worked (or didn't work) for them, support the stressed worker, and keep her/him from giving in to the pressures of work. Daniell's own group includes members of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers and professors and industry scientists. Most have been women historically (over the 25 years this group has functioned). She was invited to join by a prominent male molecular biologist 25 years ago. She gives us the history of the group, lots of detailed anecdotes of its functioning, and then turns to how to form and run such a group for your own sanity.

I found this book both inspiring and disquieting: Daniell herself describes how she was denied tenure at a prestigious university, fought the decision, and was denied anyway. Then she became an administrator in the biotech industry, and today she's a full time writer. Her self esteem came through thanks to the group process. But as a woman in science, who took the trouble to read Daniell's pre tenure publications, I am appalled that she was denied. What were they thinking? But don't get the idea that this book is full of rage. That's my own, not Ellen Daniell's. Through her group, she has dealt successfully with the decision and put it behind her comfortably.

I recommend this book very highly; get it for your mental health and well being. I agree with Rita Colwell (former director of the National Science Foundation) who is quoted on the back cover saying that she wished she could have read it back at the start of her career.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be reading for anyone struggling in a competitive field., April 20, 2006

By 

Anton Schwartz "antoschw" (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Every Other Thursday: Stories and Strategies from Successful Women Scientists (Hardcover)

Life is tough. Scientist or nonscientist, man or woman, we go up against great odds to make progress, teach and inspire others, and pave the way for the future. So why does the world make this process so hard? In this book, Ellen Daniell describes the support network of young scientists, mostly women, that helped its Bay Area members overcome family troubles, deal with the whims of fate, and face despair in academic and institutional settings. Along the way she describes the psychological approach to success that we can provide for one another. Read this book, and make friends, and be happy that we get this great chance in life!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars universal advice, especially for scientists, April 23, 2010

By 

Aleksandra Nita-Lazar (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Every Other Thursday: Stories and Strategies from Successful Women Scientists (Paperback)

The book "Every other Thursday" presents strategies to deal with many situations typical for research and academia, especially for independent scientists. After postdoctoral training, scientists who get on the tenure track can do science: plan experiments, project and execute them, analyze the results and write papers. What they are not prepared for is managing the lab and dealing with administration, teaching classes on a regular basis (well, some have limited experience in teaching, usually not nearly enough). Most of them (especially women) also do not have enough confidence and have to learn to be bold and assertive.

Ellen Daniell's book describes the self-help group, initially meant as a group for all willing people from the scientific environment in the San Francisco Bay area, later turned into women's group. The author offers examples on different ways of dealing with work-related stress, from acknowledging it, discussing with peers, and using the advice. There is also advice on maneuvering between personal and professional problems and effectively combining work, family and friends to be successful and happy.

The book is very practical, personal and honest - describes moving stories from women scientists, who have been meeting for 20 years and consider their group as an essential tool in their careers, at the same time valuing the friendship with other group members. There are different personalities and different problems, but the book ultimately offers universal advice for women scientists and generally for scientists at different stages of their careers. I benefitted a lot from this book and I think there is still a need for this type of help: women are now not so unusual in the scientific community, but they still encounter similar difficulties.