Science is a complicated business. It affects everyone, in every aspect of their life. It can be argued that anyone who tests variations on a new cooking recipe, studies a new way to manage their garden, compares different methods of travel or new mixtures of paint to decorate their home is employing scientific principles. Of course we are all influenced by science – more so now in the twenty-first century than ever. We all benefit (and sometimes suffer) from advances in technology, medicine, agriculture, often without realising.

Some choose to enter a career in science with real knowledge and commitment, others with naivety and uncertainty. This book is an attempt to highlight the good and the bad aspects of such choices, the things you need to know to get on in research, and factors which may help in making career decisions and in determining success. It could be read by those making the choice about entering research, or those in a scientific career at any level. It is written, without apology, as a personal view on what it takes to achieve success. Not everyone will share these views.

The book originated from numerous and repetitive discussions and presentations by and to scientists within and outside my own lab, about what they should and should not do to achieve success. I felt that it would save their time and mine to summarise these in written form. What sounded like an easy and brief task, grew from this. It seemed that there was too much to say. Such a book is not, and cannot, be used as a definitive text on what is needed to be successful as a scientist.