Recommended Books
from Michael Bishop

Book List Arrowsmith Sinclair Lewis The Double Helix James D. Watson A Mathematician's Apology G.H. Hardy The Lives of a Cell Lewis Thomas Infinite in All Directions Freeman Dyson Dance to the Music of Time Anthony Powell

Background J. Michael Bishop has received the Lasker Award (1982) and the Nobel Prize (1989, with Harold E. Varmus) for his discovery of oncogenes—genes that cause cancer—and the finding that these genes are present in normal cells. In his 2003 autobiography, How to Win the Nobel Prize: An Unexpected Life in Science, Bishop reflects on relationships between science and society as well as his own career. A professor at the University of California at San Francisco, Bishop continues his research in the molecular genetics of normal and neoplastic cells. Since 1998 he also has served as Chancellor of the university. Essay These are some books that have made a special impression on me, most of them related in one way or another to my choice of science as a career or the pleasure and satisfaction that career has given me. Arrowsmith, by Sinclair Lewis, is perhaps a hackneyed choice, but I read the book while in medical school, and it fostered my conviction that a medically trained individual like myself could have a career in research—despite the rather cynical conclusion. The book happens to include a fictional account of Peyton Rous, whose work provided the platform for my own—at a distance of almost 70 years—but I did not know that at the time I read the novel. As for the rest, The Double Helix, by James D. Watson, is the best (and most entertaining) book about doing research that I have read. A Mathematician's Apology, by G.H. Hardy, is a charming exposition on the virtue of abstruse inquiry. In The Lives of a Cell, Lewis Thomas displayed his literary talent in the service of science. Infinite in All Directions, by Freeman Dyson, is a paean to the imagination, an encouragement to throw caution to the winds. Finally, Dance to the Music of Time, by Anthony Powell—12 novels, but one sustained story—reminds me that I should continue to read fiction.