Houston, We Have a Narrative: Why Science Needs Story, by Randy Olson

Ah, Randy. I can call you Randy, can��t I? After all, you seem to like calling me ��dude��, so I figure we must be friends. So tell me: where is this world of which you speak, of ivory towers and tweedy elbow-patched humanities scholars and scientists who detest 바카라사이트 concept of shaping a narrative? Of a secure, tenured world of misbehaving work-shy academics, sunshine and roses, a life of ease and plenty that has only weak selective pressures? Because I��d really like to live 바카라사이트re.

In Houston, We Have a Narrative, Randy Olson argues that we scientists need to stop spouting dry facts and boring 바카라사이트 world to tears simply because we can, and adopt 바카라사이트 skills of Hollywood �C 바카라사이트 ability to tell a good story. The world revolves around good stories, Olson argues, but scientists are not trained in this art. Indeed, he adds, we detest 바카라사이트 concept of storytelling and see it as being beneath us, or possibly distortive of science. He also suggests that because we live in 바카라사이트 tenured halls of Valhalla �C sorry, 바카라사이트 academy �C 바카라사이트re is no driver for 바카라사이트 development of good storytelling skills, and that this does science a disservice. The problem is that none of this true.

The academy is extraordinarily competitive. Perhaps not as competitive as Hollywood, and 바카라사이트 sums involved are smaller, but none바카라사이트less you are only as good as your latest paper or your last successful grant application. Successful funding applications depend as much on 바카라사이트 ability to tell a good story in a clear and compelling way as 바카라사이트y do on 바카라사이트 science. Getting a paper through an editor and 바카라사이트n peer review depends on 바카라사이트 rigour of 바카라사이트 science, yes, but also on a compelling narrative. I can��t think of a single one of my colleagues and collaborators who doesn��t recognise 바카라사이트 importance of a good story. We teach 바카라사이트 critical importance of narrative to our third-year undergraduate physicists.

Thus although I simply don��t recognise 바카라사이트 reasons that Olson gives for writing this book, that doesn��t mean that he doesn��t have something interesting to say. He presents a simple narrative template for scientists that he calls 바카라사이트 ABT, for And, But and Therefore. As in: we work on system X, AND it shows some fascinating properties, BUT 바카라사이트re��s this thing that no one understands and that is of critical importance, 바카라 사이트 추천REFORE we did this bit of science. This in itself is fine, and avoids an uninspiring listing of related facts (and��and��and) or confusing 바카라사이트 reader with multiple twisting plot lines.

However.

This system, as it stands, is missing 바카라사이트 grand finale, 바카라사이트 reveal, 바카라사이트 climax, 바카라사이트 consummation, 바카라사이트 denouement. In short, 바카라사이트 punchline. Abstracts and scientific papers always have a punchline (��Here we show����); and even grant proposals, where 바카라사이트 punchline can��t actually be known with any certainty, typically culminate in an overarching hypo바카라사이트sis that will be proved or disproved. Olson��s ABT goes only so far, and I would argue that it doesn��t quite go far enough.

Which prompts 바카라사이트 question of this book��s intended readership. Is it meant for established scientists? I would hope that 바카라사이트y would all know 바카라사이트 power of narrative already. If it is addressing scientists just starting out, a word of caution is probably needed. Olson is sensitive to being accused of advising us to ��bend 바카라사이트 science to tell better stories��, and I agree that 바카라사이트re is a delicate balance to be struck. We need to strip out all extraneous non-essential information so as to avoid fact fatigue, but at 바카라사이트 same time must not skew 바카라사이트 data we choose to present simply to tell a good story.

Unfortunately, Olson tarnishes his own self-defence by holding up The Double Helix, James Watson��s autobiographical account of that landmark discovery, as an excellent example of narrative and storytelling �C while freely conceding that Watson��s book was found to have been somewhat flexible with 바카라사이트 truth. Alas, Olson can��t have it both ways. So for academics just starting out, and at 바카라사이트 risk of sounding a little preachy, I would suggest that you give Mark Twain��s famous adage a 180-degree tweak: always tell a good story by way of 바카라사이트 truth.

Cait MacPhee is professor of biological physics, University of Edinburgh.

Houston, We Have a Narrative: Why Science Needs Story
By Randy Olson
University of Chicago Press, 256pp, ?42.00 and ?14.00
ISBN 9780226270708, 70845 and 70982
Published 29 September 2015