DEADLINES
Life scientists are forced to discover on a deadline. How can anyone make a real discovery on a deadline?
PATENT RIGHTS
Patent rights are a big driving force behind academic research. The public funds research, but doesn’t get the results for free!
SERIOUS SCIENCE
There is no democracy in research. One must not deviate from the established opinions to be considered serious.
Not everything is the way it seems:
Take a peak into the mind of a disgruntled scientist
Have you run for cancer? Have you walked for cancer? Have you donated money for research? Your money is not making a difference. You may feel good about it, but you are feeding the monster. The best way to help cancer research is to stop funding it! Do you think that all those cancer centers that suck up billions have their annihilation as the final goal?! The public funds research, but doesn’t get the results of the research for free! It used to be much better before. There was never a patent for the Polio vaccine for example. As of 1981, the discoveries made with public money can be patented and sold back to the same public! Is that right?
something different
Hadrian is a junior cancer scientist who was diagnosed with brain cancer and given one year to live. He knows that a miracle drug is not coming any time soon, so he decides to speed up the drug discovery process by shocking the corrupt system. He kills the director of the Price Harry Cancer Research Center where he works. The center is a monster consuming a huge amount of funds while providing little, if any, benefit to the hopeful donors and patients. Since Hadrian has nothing to lose, he decides that it is better to use that last year to bring a positive change to the world, even through murder that he tries to justify. While preparing for the murder he enters empty relationships, thinks about the meaning of life and experiences an avalanche of thoughts on controversial topics. You may like the book, you may hate it, but you will definitely not stay indifferent!
Main thoughts from the book
What’s Wrong With Research Today?
Pretty much everything. Unfortunately, the system has taken root and cannot be changed in an instant. When things get going in whatever direction, keep in mind that someone will benefit from it big time. As for the bottom-feeders, they would not be there in the first place if they had the… heart to make a difference. Nobody can expect them to stand up and change the system. In addition, there is no real push to change it from the outside, because laypeople don’t understand that research could be much more efficient and can’t think of something that scientists should be figuring out for themselves. Do you work at an office? If so, how much do you think about the efficiency of copper ore extraction for example? Exactly!
Read more in the blog
nenad cicmil, phd
About the author
Nenad is a critic of the current research environment, but he plays it in a not so common way for a living. He was blessed (or most likely cursed) with innate curiosity and the constant need to question the status quo. Although these attributes are officially put forward as desirable for a researcher in some utopian perfect world, in the real world, this is not the case. He felt that in high school and then at the university in Serbia, after which the feeling of misfit followed him to the graduate program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and then finally to Princess Margaret Cancer Hospital at the University of Toronto where he conducted his postdoctoral work. It was difficult for him to wake up and go to work with no faith in what was being done. To many people that is normal. The book is a way for him to voice his opinion on how the current research environment is NOT conducive to discoveries. “He who has ears, let him hear.” – Matthew 13:9
Testimonials
Here’s what some readers say:
This book scarred me for life! If you persist with the book, I will leave you! AAAAAAAARGH! (…and she left)
Author’s ex-wife
pre-release reader
Morbidly depressing. Otherwise a great book.
Michael Warenycia
pre-release reader
I am going to turn vegan and maybe buy me a gun.
Anonymous
Sharing thoughts after reading
What to do with one year to live?
Chapter 1
What kind of people do research?
Chapters 3,4,6
Gay dating in Toronto
Chapter 5, 7
The pyramid of research
Chapter 8
China killed a boy
Chapter 10,14
The Misbehaving Tranny
Chapter 19
The Mistreated dog
Chapters 20, 22
Assassination
Chapter 22
The Letter
Chapter 25From The Blog
Many thoughts on what is wrong in science and how it can be fixed. Yes, it can be fixed and it would cost LESS than keeping the monster alive!
Making Of A Scientist
From Chapter 25: True scientists are not made, they are born. However, there are many[…]
Employment Situation
From Chapter 25: What happens when people do survive grad school and finally get their[…]
Research Conduct and Metrics
From Chapter 25: Here we come to the essence of the problem with the system.[…]
Contact me
Want to tell me how much you love the book? How much you hate the book? How you want to kill me because you hate me for what I wrote? Send me an email first!