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CITATION Sharp, J.H. 2009. Review of Don’t Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance In An Age of Style, by R. Olson. Oceanography 22(4):255–257, doi:10.5670/oceanog.2009.120.

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downloaded from www.tos.org/oceanography Zoticus’s travels also include the described by the voyage’s marine and geological collections and refer- Antarctic ice shelf, the Great Barrier geologist, Professor Maurice Ewing. The ence samples are honored throughout Reef, and the shipwreck Atrolabe, which publisher notes: “The theory that the the book. The voyage ends with a visit is accompanied by a world map of Earth’s surface is made up of moving to “the vast sunken city” Atlantis—and important shipwrecks and estimated plates was not properly developed until Poseidon’s curse. dates of sinking: Viking ships (1080), the 1960s. The fact that Ewing describes This book is a tribute both to Jules Mary Rose (1545), Santa Margarita the idea here is truly remarkable. We Verne, the pioneer of the science fiction & Nuestra Senora de Atocha (1622), must conclude that he was able to genre, and to what we know today Merchant Royal (1641), HMS Pandora develop theories that were startlingly about our ocean. (1791), and S.S. Central America (1857). ahead of their time as a result of his The publisher carefully yet inconspicu- exposure to undersea wonders that had Clarice M. Yentsch (cmyentsch@aol. ously notes that there are several notable never before been witnessed by scientists com) is Research Scientist and Adjunct shipwrecks missing from this map as of his time.” Professor, Nova Southeastern University they occurred after the date of this There is a “Web of Life” drawing and Oceanographic Center, Dania Beach, FL, journal. It notes Titanic’s sinking in 1912 a booklet on “Charles Darwin and the USA. Charles S. Yentsch is an independent and its discovery in 1985, and Lusitania, Origin of the Species” with a drawing contractor with Plankton Research and sunk as a victim of World War I and of HMS Beagle (1831–1836) and notes Instruments, Key West, FL, USA. Charlie discovered in 1935. on “Darwin in the Galápagos,” and and Clarice founded Bigelow Laboratory for Topics covered also include an under- “Evolution and Natural Selection.” The Ocean Sciences in 1974 in West Boothbay water volcano and plate boundaries importance and intrigue of biological Harbor, ME.

Don’t Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance In An Age of Style

By Randy Olson, Island Press, 2009, scientists as overly critical of them and 206 pages, ISBN 978-159726-563-8, supportive of our students becoming Softcover, $19.95 US inaccurate emotional environmental advocates. This should not be the case. Reviewed by Jonathan H. Sharp Over the past two decades, I have seen increasing numbers of prospective grad- The number of Americans who believe uate students who were passionate about [sic] that our climate is changing has environmental problems and wanted dropped 20 percentage points to 57% in to “save the world.” In our traditional the past two years. This figure should be academic training, we tend to squelch The author of Don’t Be Such a a clarion call that we, as environmental this passion in favor of developing quiet, Scientist, Randy Olson, is a scientist who scientists, are not effectively communi- objective, incremental researchers. In abandoned an academic career to pursue cating with the public. Here is a book the end, our trainees become like us; if a new one in professional filmmaking. that addresses the problem with excel- they speak out in public at all, it is with After earning his PhD in evolutionary lent suggestions on how to improve our guarded, qualified statements. They biology at Harvard, he advanced to a communication skills. The book might appear to the more cynical public to be tenured marine biology faculty position be viewed by some established ocean boring “talking heads.” at the University of New Hampshire.

Oceanography December 2009 255 He left that position in his late thirties That “second error” is boredom. Olson side of substance and the subjective side to enter film school at the University refers to a traditional scientist’s response of style. Even if one’s presentation has of Southern California. Since then, he to a tedious, boring presentation by a great substance, style is needed to get the has been struggling as an independent colleague as shrugging it off with the audience to grasp the substance. filmmaker, making short and feature- claim that at least the speaker got the In discussing scientists competing length films about evolutionary and facts right and hence no harm was with naysayers to inform the public, environmental sciences for broad public done. He claims that great harm is done: he points out that scientists carefully consumption. His neat, short documen- it is a total failure to communicate. deliver facts. On the other hand, by using tary videos in the Shifting Baselines Throughout the book, he also indicates emotion and “facts” that are not accu- Ocean Media Project are concise, factu- that this error of boredom helps create rate, the other side succeeds in under- ally accurate vignettes about abuse and an image of scientists that makes the mining the scientists’ messages. Many overexploitation of the ocean. His feature public dismiss and ignore them. of us have observed this phenomenon. film Flock of Dodos, aptly subtitled The So, what does Randy Olson want us to Unfortunately, too often our response Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus, pokes do? His objective is not to convert a few is one of disgust for the “charlatans,” fun at the lack of science in the intel- passionate, articulate young scientists as opposed to recognition of our own ligent design approach, but also at staid, to quit research and go to Hollywood. failure. The message of his last chapter, pompous evolutionary scientists. He He suggests that a large portion of our and a theme throughout the book, is that describes his recent feature film Sizzle profession make a concerted effort to most scientists should make the effort as a mockumentary about making a communicate more effectively with the to become better storytellers. You do documentary film about climate change. public, and then gives some valuable not need abandon or water down the I found both films to be entertaining and pointers on how to do it. He constantly substance, rather you need to add style informative. His short videos and feature stresses that we do not want to “dumb to the substance and be concerned with films use humor and popular appeal to down” the science and that we must be the story line in public presentations. present solid scientific information. meticulous in keeping accuracy in our Olson relays what he learned from A major theme of this book is that messages. In fact, his “first error” in his acting classes about the dichotomy while scientists speaking in public presenting to the public is inaccuracy. of “arouse and fulfill” (motivate and must, of course, maintain accuracy and However, we can learn how to make our educate). An actor must first capture the objectivity, they fail to communicate to messages more interesting, more enter- attention of those in an audience, and the larger audience that needs to hear taining, and thus, more compelling while then fulfill them with the performance. them unless they quit being boring. still being accurate. In a similar fashion, a science commu- A quote that I like from the introduc- The book has five chapters, the nicator must motivate the members of tory chapter is: first four with titles starting “Don’t an audience and then educate them. be..”: 1. So Cerebral, 2. So Literal In our typical academic presentation The time has come, in our new media Minded, 3. Such a Poor Storyteller, and format, we generally assume that we environment, which is so cluttered with 4. So Unlikable. The fifth chapter title are dealing with a pre-aroused audi- information that it is at times hard to instructs what to be: Be the Voice of ence and can go directly to the fulfill tell fact from fiction, for new attention to Science. Throughout, Olson analyzes mode. In public presentations, we must be paid to this second type of error. The what he views as common poor commu- first be concerned with motivation: powerful and effective communication of nication activities with positive sugges- “Why should the public be interested science has to be a much higher priority tions on how to improve. As a central in our message?” He states that scien- than ever or the science community will point, he describes the “objective/subjec- tists usually fail to motivate, but he lose its voice, drowned out by either the tive divide”: science has the objective also points out that well-intentioned new anti-science movement or just the side of doing and the subjective side of Hollywood environmentalists who do cacophony of society’s noise. communicating, with the further division motivate often fail to educate. With of communicating having the objective interesting anecdotes, he suggests that

256 Oceanography Vol.22, No.4 we need to both motivate and educate. pokes fun at himself as an example of With the modern technological world what is wrong with the typical scientist’s of Facebook and blogs, Olson suggests approach. The tone of the book is not that the younger generation of scientists “what you are doing wrong,” it is “what is, and should be, familiar with videos. we are doing wrong.” In the end, he Probably more and more scientists acknowledges that he can’t completely are beginning to make short videos quit being a scientist and that he loved and post them on their Web pages. his former profession (with the excep- This is a potential avenue of expanded tion of writing grant proposals). He communication, both in the mode and writes as a scientist who loves scientific in the type of short, interesting message research, but who is more interested now required for presentation. He suggests in mass communication. that we need to move on to using blogs This book is well written and inter- and other voluntary avenues to get our esting. More importantly, it has a messages out. Olson has been devel- compelling message for the scientific oping and conducting workshops for community. If you, as an environmental scientists, including a regular one on scientist, feel that public perception of communication at Scripps Institution and interest in the environment are fine of Oceanography. and that people generally are getting Marine Throughout the book, Olson uses good, accurate information, then skip interesting anecdotes that describe this book. I think that most ocean Macroecology his transition from research scientist scientists do not think that everything EditEd by Jon d. Witman + Kaustuv Roy to professional entertainer, and also is going fine. To them, I strongly recom- “This book provides the essential interesting stories about events and mend this book. foundation of what is known, what approaches in his filmmaking. Some needs to be discovered, and how this readers might find his autobiographical Jonathan H. Sharp ([email protected]) can be achieved. it contains sufficient ideas to inspire a generation approach too personal, but it is effective is Professor of Oceanography, School of of marine macroecologists.” partially because of his humility. He is Marine Science and Policy, University of Kevin J. Gaston, very critical of the poor communica- Delaware, Lewes, DE, USA. university of sheffield Paper $40.00 tion success of scientists and most often

The University of Chicago Press UPCOMING REVIEWS www.press.uchicago.edu Cold-Water Corals: The Biology and Geology of Deep-Sea Coral Habitats by J. Murray Roberts, Andrew Wheeler, Andre Freiwald, and Stephen Cairns, Cambridge University Press, 334 pages

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Oceanography December 2009 257