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Letters to a Young Scientist by E.O. Wilson

Article · January 2013

DOI: 10.7721/chilyoutenvi.23.3.0201

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Reviewed Work(s): Letters to a Young Scientist by E.O. Wilson
Review by: Victoria Derr
Source: Children, Youth and Environments, Vol. 23, No. 3, Collected Papers (2013), pp. 201-
203
Published by: University of Cincinnati
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.23.3.0201
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 Children, Youth and Environments 23(3), 2013

Letters to a Young Scientist

E.O. Wilson (2013).

New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 256 pages.
$21.95 USD (hardback). ISBN-10: 0871403773

E.O. Wilson is one of the world’s premier field biologists and advocates for
biodiversity. Having read and been inspired by many of Wilson’s previous works, I
was eager to read this book. I realized part way through that I was hoping for a
series of letters to a much younger reader than this book is intended: a reader like
my 7-year-old son, who is bursting with keen observations and a passion for the
natural world, as well as an inventive and curious mind that is ready for adventure.
While Wilson does sketch out basic character traits of early scientists just like my
son—observational skills, passion for one’s subject, early and unstructured
observations with nature, and even daydreaming—this is a relatively minor
component of the book.

This book is a collection of letters and essays about Wilson’s perspective on a

career in science, addressed to potential scientists or those just beginning their
careers. Some letters focus on the need for connecting with other disciplines,
including traditional sciences as well as the social sciences, humanities, and
creative arts. Another letter discusses the application and relationship of
mathematics to science. He provides a hopeful message that some scientists—such
as himself—who are dedicated to discovery and field science, use math less often
and differently than those who build large-scale theories. Still other letters chart
out some of the adventures in the search for discovery of new life that he himself
has had and that are still needed in a variety of domains. Throughout the book he
makes the plea that we need scientists more than ever. Yet, I think the book is
largely written for other scientists like himself, who have been through the trenches
and enjoyed the journey, more than for young people considering careers in science
today.

While Wilson makes the case that we need scientists now more than ever, he also
makes the scientific world feel an exclusive and specialized place. Some of the
included letters describe the basic skills and types of thinking needed to make a
career in science. He describes a life of hard work, long hours, and no vacations.
While many professions fit this description, the book made me wonder at what
point science as a profession will adapt to make room for people who do not fit this
mold, or for people who want to spend time with their family in a more balanced
way. We need to create room for more diversity in what the profession looks like,
so that it can work for the many types of minds required for the future.

 2013 Children, Youth and Environments

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Book Review: Letters to a Young Scientist 202

Research in science education has documented a declining interest in science

professions in the last thirty to forty years (Osborne, Simon and Collins 2010).
Wilson himself attributes his aspiration for science to his time spent outside in the
fields of his home rather than in school. In studies of young people’s attitudes
toward science, researchers have found that students’ attitudes are generally
positive until about age 11, when they enter middle and high school (Osborne,
Simon and Collins 2010). Wilson persevered despite his schooling because of his
early days of exploration and an important mentor in biology from Harvard.
However the vast majority of others do not have access to such experiences or
mentors, and their attitudes reflect a notion of science that is neither interesting
nor easy for the general public. Masnick and colleagues (2010) found that students
considered scientific careers to be less creative and less people-oriented than other
professions, which led to students’ comparably low interest in science professions.
Wilson’s letters do little to convince young readers that this is not the case. In fact,
Wilson suggests that most scientists are introverted and conduct much of their best
work alone rather than in collaboration. While Wilson advocates the need for cross-
pollination with more creative arts, he does not show readers how this might be
achieved in any contemporary fields of science or applied science. Stevens and
colleagues (2008) describe three dimensions of engineering students as they
acquire disciplinary knowledge, form an identity as an engineer, and navigate
engineering education. These are similarly described by Wilson albeit with different
vocabulary. The disconnect I see is that the identity of a scientist Wilson paints is
the very one that many young students find alienating. Hulleman and Harackiewicz
(2009) found that application of science to real-life situations increased students’
motivation and interest in high school science. However, because Wilson spends so
much of his book elaborating his own career studying taxonomy and entomology, it
may be hard for young people to see the relevance of such a career to their own
lives.

I identify these contradictions and shortcomings because I could not agree more
with Wilson’s plea: more than ever we need people who are passionate and trained
in science to address the vast number of issues and opportunities our world faces
today. E.O. Wilson’s model is of one kind of scientist, succeeding in the most
traditional of existing disciplines. We will need new models in the future, ones not
spoken to in this book. I have read and been very much inspired by many of E.O.
Wilson’s earlier writings, but I did not really find myself in these pages, nor did I
find the students with whom I work. Some may follow this path, but we need to
open the doors for many other ways of thinking and being scientists.

References

Hulleman, Chris S. and Judith M. Harackiewicz (2009). “Promoting Interest

and Performance in High School Science Classes.” Science 326: 1410-1412.

Masnick, Amy M., S. Stavros Valenti, Brian D. Cox and Christopher J. Osman
(2010). “A Multidimensional Scaling Analysis of Students’ Attitudes about Science
Careers.” International Journal of Science Education 32(5): 653-667.

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 Book Review: Letters to a Young Scientist 203

Osborne, Jonathan, Shirley Simon and Sue Collins (2010). “Attitudes towards
Science: A Review of the Literature and Its Implications.” International Journal of
Science Education 25(9): 1049-1079.

Stevens, Reed, Kevin O’Connor, Lari Garrison, Andrew Jocuns, and Daniel
M. Amos (2008). “Becoming an Engineer: Toward a Three Dimensional View of
Engineering Learning.” Journal of Engineering Education 97(3): 355-368.

Review by Victoria Derr

Victoria Derr (Ph.D., Yale University, School of Forestry and Environmental

Studies) is a Senior Instructor at the University of Colorado, Boulder in the Program
in Environmental Design. Her work includes community engagement in design and
planning, increasing youth voice through arts and planning, children’s access to
nature, food systems change, and ecological restoration and conservation. She co-
coordinates the Growing Up Boulder initiative to increase youth voice in city
planning.

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