Customer Reviews

How to Succeed in Academics (Successful Career Management)

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It is true that this book is of no relevance to you if your research doesn't involve grant submissions to the National Institutes of Health and the corresponding expectation of publishing in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The title should have reflected this bias.

If you are a pre/post-doctoral scientist, however, it is marvelous. The chapter on NIH Study Sessions has information that scientists don't usually get until they have served on study sessions themselves; and in general the grant preparation and submission advice is superb. The focus is on grants for which the reader is the Principal Investigator, but there are very helpful suggestions for NRSAs as well.

Chapters on poster presentation, paper writing, and talks (both 1-hour and 15-minute formats) show the same combination of common-sense information and tips that can only come from senior scientists who have witnessed their share of career-damaging gaffes.

I thought this book was overpriced. I did not learn anything new. The book seems to be best suited for someone entering academia in the hard sciences, who has not attended conferences or participated in academia at all in the past.

This is a clearly written, comprehensive overview of what it takes to succeed if you are an academic in a medical field. It follows each topic with a vignette of an imaginary junior researcher who is struggling with various career issues. The book tries to aim for a general academic audience, but it will be of little help to those in the humanities. As a psychologist and professional coach to academics on the tenure track, I recommend this book to grad students, post-docs and junior faculty in the hard sciences, especially medical research.