Avoid boring people

From Avoid Boring People by James D. Watson. He captures key lessons he learned at the end of each chapter. Some are banal, some are true but not original, some are true but only in particular circumstances, some are contradictory with others, etc. Watson is one of the pivotal scientists of the modern era and regardless of consistency or other critical criteria, it is useful to know what he thinks were the key lessons. From youth to mature age, I have captured all his lessons. Some are self-evident. Others, you need to read Avoid Boring People to see what he is getting at.

Avoid fighting bigger boys or dogs
Put lots of spin on balls
Never accept dares that put your life at risk
Accept only advice that comes from experience as opposed to revelation
Hypocrisy in search of social acceptance erodes your self-respect
Never be flippant with teachers
When intellectually panicking, get help quickly
Find a young hero to emulate
College is for learning how to think
Knowing “why” )an idea) is more important than learning “what” (a fact)
New ideas usually need new facts
Think like your teachers
Pursue courses where you get top grades
Seek out bright as opposed to popular friends
Have teachers who like you intellectually
Narrow down your intellectual (career) objectives while still in college
Choose a young thesis adviser
Expect young hotshots to have arrogant reputations
Extend yourself intellectually through courses that initially frighten you
Humility pays off during oral exams
Avoid advanced courses that waste your time
Don’t choose your initial thesis objective
Keep intellectual curiosity much broader than your thesis objective
Use first names as soon as possible
Banal thoughts necessarily also dominate clever minds
Work on Sundays
Exercise exorcises intellectual blahs
Late summer experiments go against human nature
Have a big objective that makes you feel special
Sit in the front row when a seminar’s title intrigues you
Irreproducible results can be blessings in disguise
Always have an audience for your experiments
Avoid boring people
Science is highly social
Leave a research field before it bores you
Choose an objective apparently ahead of its time
Work on problems only when you feel tangible success may come in several years
Never be the brightest person in the room
Stay in close contact with your intellectual competitors
Work with a teammate who is your intellectual equal
Always have someone to save you
Bring your research into your lectures
Challenge your students’ abilities to move beyond the facts
Have your students master subjects outside your expertise
Never let your students see themselves as research assistants
Hire spunky lab helpers
Academic institutions do not easily change themselves
Teaching can make your mind move on to big problems
Lectures should not be unidimensionally serious
Give your students the straight dope
Encourage undergraduate research experience
Focus departmental seminars on new science
Join the board of a new journal
Immediately write up big discoveries
Travel makes your science stronger
Exaggerations do not void basic truths
The military is interested in what scientists know, not what they think
Don’t back schemes that demand miracles
Controversial recommendations require political backing
Buy, don’t rent, a suit of tails
Don’t sign petitions that want your celebrity
Make the most of the year following announcement of your prize
Don’t anticipate a flirtatious Santa Lucia girl
Expect to put on weight after Stockholm
Avoid gatherings of more than two Nobel Prize winners
Spend your prize money on a home
Success should command a premium
Channel rage through intermediaries
Be prepared to resign over inadequate space
Have friends close to those who rule
Never offer tenure to practitioners of dying disciplines
Become the chairman
Ask the dean only for what he can give
Be the first to tell a good story
A wise editor matters more than a big advance
Find an agent whose advice you will follow
Use snappy sentences to open your chapters
Don’t use autobiography to justify pact actions or motivations
Avoid imprecise modifiers
Always remember your intended reader
Read out loud your written words
Two obsessions are one too many
Don’t take up golf
Races within the same building bring on heartburn
Close competitors should publish simultaneously
Share valuable research tools
Accept leadership challenges before your academic career peaks
Run a benevolent dictatorship
Manage your scientists like a baseball team
Only ask for advice that you will later accept
Use your endowment to support science, not for long-term salary support
Promote key scientists faster than you expect
Schedule as few appointments as possible
Don’t be shy about showing displeasure
Walk the grounds
Avoid boring people
Delegate as much authority as possible
Institutions are either moving forward or they are moving backward
Always buy adjacent property that comes up for sale
Attractive buildings project institutional strength
Have wealthy neighbors
Be a friend to your trustees
All take and no give will disenchant your benefactors
Never appear upset when other people deny you their money
Avoid being photographed
Never dye your hair or use collagen
Make necessary decisions before you have to