The Old Man, the Sea and the PhD: Seven Parables of Doing a PhD in Life Sciences - Paperback

by Martin Lukacisin (Author)

A short book about the particular challenges awaiting a PhD student in Life Sciences.

'The Old Man...' captures so many things I felt about my PhD but couldn't quite grasp or let alone put into words. A humorous and cathartic read for anyone who has finished a PhD, and an eye-opening one for those who are about to start
-- Tom Hiscock, PhD in Systems Biology, Harvard

Thought-provoking and uncompromisingly intelligent, this is a book I wish I had read before starting my PhD. In case I ever come to supervise PhD students, I will re-read it on my first day in the new job.
-- Marcin Suskiewicz, PhD in Structural Biology, IMP Vienna

This is not simply a career guide for Life Science graduate students. It is a collection of beautiful parables on management, motivation, and meaning, relevant to anyone who likes to think, as a matter of lifestyle or for a living.
-- Jakub Z vodn , DPhil in Computer Science, Oxford

Author Biography

Martin Lukacisin - A PhD candidate in Systems Biology, in his short academic 'career' he has studied or researched at places like Oxford, Cambridge, Zurich, Bratislava, Princeton, Harvard, Vienna and Cologne. He has seen too much of the inner workings of academia to fit his young mind and thus had to write this book about how quirky the challenges are for a PhD student in experimental research. He hopes to get his PhD marlin one day, but who knows, maybe he'll have to go hungry in the end just like Old Man Santiago.