I looked at the list of abstracts to be spoken out at an upcoming conference. To my dismay, the most horrifying topic had been assigned to me by the Big Boss. It was related to relatively new approach to drug development which had a hundred loopholes and presenting that data would mean the most rigorous preparation with uncertain results. Most of my colleagues had been assigned the easiest topics.
I stood there, debating to myself about my dilemma, then marched to Big Boss’ room.
‘Explain !’ I demanded.
He looked at me calmly and said ‘I knew you would be coming in here to ask me for an explanation. This is because this is the most challenging and difficult project – I can’t trust anyone else to do a good job with it. If anyone can do it well, only you can.’
I stood there, with conflicting emotions of happiness and anxiety coursing inside me. Somehow his last statement sounding familiar, yet I could not place it.
It was only after two days I remembered that this is exactly what Isabel De Costa’s father had said to her when she was about to start a new, difficult project in ‘Prizes’ – my favourite book.
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Prizes is Erich Segal’s best – I can say that with conviction.
Frankly, I detest the way scientists are projected by the media – whether in news, books or the movies – They are always shown as absent minded, loony characters who are standing on the brink of some amazing discovery which usually will have catastrophic consequences, like ending the earth or something similar.
Normal scientists are as real as anyone else – Science does not make the people working on it into ridiculous caricatures. On the contrary, scientists are often more tolerant, more patient and than open-minded than others (I love to call anyone who is not a scientist – ‘others’) – simply because walking on the path of science is not easy :
you will always be underpaid, overdedicated and overworked
Results are often delayed or completely scarce
You will have to believe in yourself and your theories even through the worst trials
you may work on a scientific problem for years and then discover that someone else beat you to it
you may discover something fantastic and journals may not publish your results just because your work may be too path-breaking to comprehend
you may have to devote hours and hours of your day in the lab and your family members may not understand your dedication
You may find yourself standing and shouting to the cold skies to give something back to you for your enormous hard work you have put in and nothing may happen !
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And this is the beauty of this book.
It projects scientists exactly the way they are – normal human beings who have taken the road less traveled, dedicated their lives to the cure of one disease, given up most of the pleasures of social lives to solitude of their labs. They go through affairs, marriages, divorces and childbirths - but live their life for only one dream – science !
There are three brilliant protagonists in this book – Adam Coopersmith, Isabel de Costa and Sandy Raven, all of them motivated scientists in their own fields of research. And all of them working hard for one goal – The Nobel Prize.
Adam Coopersmith is young, handsome and brilliant. As he is on the brink of the most exciting discovery after years of hard work, he discovers a shattering truth about himself – He has the Alzheimer’s disease. From that point on, the graph of his life takes a slow and certain decline but his biggest dream comes true before he becomes one with the sky he embraces in death.
Isabel Da Costa is a child prodigy who copes with the dual pressures of her father’s dream to make it big in science and the need to live a normal life of a teenager. Her love for science and the handsome Jerry keep her going in her worst times.
Sandy Raven, the ordinary boy next door, tries to shine in the firmament of science in an effort to compensate for the lack of an attractive personality. Yet, after years of dedicated effort, when he discovers the ultimate cure for hepatic cancer, his most trusted colleague takes away all the credit and the Nobel Prize, while Sandy watches on.
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I recommend this book for anyone
-who has a dream and is determined to fulfill it.
-who is willing to take upon the less trodden way and walk upon it
-who knows that sacrifice and hard work may not be the ultimate keys of success, but they definitely give us satisfaction
-who knows that it’s ‘work’ that makes the world go round
-who wishes to have a great book to read !!
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‘Behind every Nobel prize, there is a saga – of betrayal, sacrifice and hard work’.
And of course remember these words –
‘Aim for the stars. If anyone can do this, only you can !!’