I love being a scientist. It's the most infuriatingly rewarding profession on the face of the earth and daily drives me mad. Science is full of people like me, concentrating really hard on usually abstract subject matters. They are busy and often preoccupied. This makes maintaining relationships less than easy. Throw in the lack of a stable career path, lower than average financial rewards, often repetitive, boring work and more personal rivalry than you'd find in a large multi-national company and it can seem a daunting prospect for any newcomer. But the payback is great if you can hang in there. I don't care what anyone says, science is about the massive rush you get when you see something previously unseen by anyone; end of story. This book is intended to help the novice scientist wise up fast when they find themselves facing the seemingly impenetrable and incomprehensible world of science for the first time. It's also about cutting it as a professional scientist once you've jumped all the fences and ‘been approved’, however long that process is supposed to take in your particular institution and country. In between these two extremes lies a plethora of down-to-earth and sometimes humorous advice. I make no apologies for taking a sideways look at science – it often needs it.