You And Your Research

I was reading this article yesterday called "You And Your Research" by Richard Hamming, and halfway through it I realized I must have read it already, because the printout I was reading already had the margin scribbles and underlining that I usually make when I read. But I couldn't remember a single thing about it ... strange. Time to refill my Aricept ...

Anyhow, I thought it was a nice article in the sense that it talks about ways to approach ideas and problems, such as the idea that "If you do not work on an important problem, you aren't going to do important work." I mean, it's common sense, but makes you think a little.

I thought of DIODE as I was reading it, since research of some sort makes up at least 3/5ths, maybe 4/5ths (I'm not sure) of what the esteemed members of DIODE do on a daily basis. In fact, one of you might have sent the article to me in the first place, or I might have forwarded it already in the past. Can't remember.

Anyhow, I don't agree with everything he says, and some of it, I thought, is a little bit on the pompous side (like when he's talking about leaving social circles as soon as he sees the "top people" in the group leave, so he can find smarter people to hang out with), but all in all it was thought-provoking.

Here is a better link to use if you planning to print it.