Abstract
The book Lab Dynamics: Management Skills for Scientists is a concisely written book designed to provide scientists, in a variety of settings, a comprehensive skill set for surviving other scientists and the pressures of the work place. The book is written to appeal to a range of scientists from beginning trainees to seasoned professionals. Importantly, the author's provide real world examples of personal interactions between scientists in jobs covering a broad scope of work settings. Thus, the book should appeal to a diverse audience of scientists including veterinary pathologists. Scientists who work in settings ranging from industry, government, or academia will likely find the book interesting and useful. A particular strength of the book is the use of the common theme of emotional intelligence that runs throughout. The authors skillfully demonstrate that first one must understand themselves before understanding interactions between scientists in conflict. Interesting chapters entitled, “People who do Science: Who They Are and Who They Can Be” and “A Herd of Cats: Managing Scientists” hold the attention of the reader by giving clear examples of how scientists tend to behave during interpersonal interactions and why knowing oneself is a key to successfully dealing with conflicts. The authors illustrate their depth of experiences by giving the reader a clear outline of the purpose and scope of each chapter, concise tables to summarize information e.g., traits of scientists and consequences of these traits, and skill sharpening exercises to place the reader in a position to role play to test assumptions or practice newly learned skills. This first edition book was developed from the authors' considerable experiences as scientists and consultants in academia and in the private sector. The book is easily read and holds the interest of the reader with amusing anecdotes, clever quotes, and real world examples and tables that summarize each chapter. The only real weakness of the book is the chapter on “surviving” the world of academia, which is overly biased and unnecessarily critical of advisors. Despite this, the book overall is excellent and a much needed addition to the library of veterinary pathologists, who seek to improve their interactions at work by seeking to understand themselves.