Karen D. (rockcairn) reviewed on 12/27/2008 + 7 more book reviews

I like novels where interesting characters are thrown in a fishbowl and left to swim. Here, the fishbowl is a high-stakes laboratory setting, and the impetus for the ensuing action is first the drive to succeed as a scientist and second the question of to what extent the actions of a particular scientist crossed a line into unethical behavior (and how that issue relates to the first issue). The unfolding action asks us to consider how the politics and relationships of the workplace make a differ...more I like novels where interesting characters are thrown in a fishbowl and left to swim. Here, the fishbowl is a high-stakes laboratory setting, and the impetus for the ensuing action is first the drive to succeed as a scientist and second the question of to what extent the actions of a particular scientist crossed a line into unethical behavior (and how that issue relates to the first issue). The unfolding action asks us to consider how the politics and relationships of the workplace make a difference in what work gets done. Interestingly, I therefore don't think that the laboratory setting is of primary importance: it is merely an attractive fishbowl.

However, as a scientist myself, I see in the novel a fable about why I should keep organized and complete lab records (and wonder if this should be be required reading for graduate students!) I see characters drawn to science for the same myriad reasons as the colleagues I've known, and the consequences on their actions. The brutality of cutting off a no-longer-promising avenue of research or of telling a postdoc that perhaps she should "just teach" resonate tremendously with me. I find it utterly remarkable that Goodman has captured so many of the sociological issues of science so well!

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