Home
No Ordinary Mike: Michael Smith, Nobel Laureate (Ronsdale, 2004)
When Mike Smith was leading three carloads of his University of British Columbia colleagues and students to hear a prominent biologist speak in Seattle, a bemused American border guard asked the driver of the third car, "Just what in the hell is an allosteric enzyme?"; Although the science-challenged reader of No Ordinary Mike: Michael Smith, Nobel Laureate (Ronsdale $24.95) sometimes shares that border guard's bemusement, this biography has an appeal that goes beyond the mysteries of the gene.
Eric Damer & Caroline Astell's No Ordinary Mike is an uplifting story of extraordinary achievement, hard work, an ability to overcome setbacks, and a passionate dedication to science. Michael Smith did it the hard way. The biography also offers ample documentation of Smith's effectiveness as a teacher and colleague. Both Smith and David Suzuki were Ph.D. supervisors to one of its authors, Caroline Astell, who became one of Smith's colleagues. Since Caroline Astell was among those invited to Sweden for the Nobel Prize ceremony, she includes a first-hand behind-the-scenes account of the events in Stockholm. Smith, who could hardly conceal his pleasure, conducted himself with great dignity, unlike his co-recipient who climbed on the table at one party and mocked the Royal Family.
Generations of university graduates have paid tribute to Smith as a clear, organized lecturer and were grateful that he instilled in them the intellectual tools needed to solve problems rather than requiring them to memorize and regurgitate information. But these very qualities alienated some students, and he was constantly pained by the stream of negative evaluations of his teaching by undergraduates in the Faculty of Medicine. Like many of his colleagues in biochemistry, he felt that medical students were too anxious to become physicians, and failed to appreciate the value of the basic sciences.
1-55380-014-1
-Joan Givner
Eric Damer & Caroline Astell's No Ordinary Mike is an uplifting story of extraordinary achievement, hard work, an ability to overcome setbacks, and a passionate dedication to science. Michael Smith did it the hard way. The biography also offers ample documentation of Smith's effectiveness as a teacher and colleague. Both Smith and David Suzuki were Ph.D. supervisors to one of its authors, Caroline Astell, who became one of Smith's colleagues. Since Caroline Astell was among those invited to Sweden for the Nobel Prize ceremony, she includes a first-hand behind-the-scenes account of the events in Stockholm. Smith, who could hardly conceal his pleasure, conducted himself with great dignity, unlike his co-recipient who climbed on the table at one party and mocked the Royal Family.
Generations of university graduates have paid tribute to Smith as a clear, organized lecturer and were grateful that he instilled in them the intellectual tools needed to solve problems rather than requiring them to memorize and regurgitate information. But these very qualities alienated some students, and he was constantly pained by the stream of negative evaluations of his teaching by undergraduates in the Faculty of Medicine. Like many of his colleagues in biochemistry, he felt that medical students were too anxious to become physicians, and failed to appreciate the value of the basic sciences.
1-55380-014-1
-Joan Givner
Submitted on June 6, 2004 in By David.
