Friday, August 27, 2010

In search of memory....

"In search of Memory" is the autobiography and a layman level summary of Eric Kandel's work, mainly on how memory is stored in the brain, some of which led him to win a Nobel prize.... Its a really nice book, as it taught me more about the stuff than the many reviews i have read before..... He also puts all of the studies in context with the state of the rest of the fields like molecular biology, cell bio, biotech, etc..... Add to this, weaving his life and conversion from a emigrant survivor jew of the WWII era, to a literature guy, to a psychoanalyst, to a neuroscientist

Ok, my intention is not to write a review of the book... but to write what i learnt about life from it.... My confusions about what to do with life seem to be too trivial if i zoom out and look at a bigger picture of where i want to be.... Kandel only had a few paragraphs to describe any of the work he did as a phd student.... And that's all this period is gonna be in my book of life too... So i should just get my work done and move on..... And it is okay to wander around and enjoy life..... One doesnt need to be a prodigy to be a good scientist...

Current mood: Trying to be as Vulcan as possible
Currently listening to: Science - System of a Down

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I fully agree with your point of view that it is not necessary to be a prodigy to be able to do cool research.

Of course that is not an excuse to be lazy. I hope your relaxed attitude will help you to attack some awsome problems that career obsessed researchers wont attack.

Those who focus on the short term in the "publish or perish universe" are doing mere grunt work that are suited for "for profit entities" that can hire drones to do the same. Research should stretch the limits of what we know and what we can do.

All the best!!! Most of all have FUN!!!