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Bibliophilia: The Father of Modern Ecology

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Abstract

In this new series, I will muse about books I love and reflect on the authors, the content, the style, the context in which the books were written, and what they mean for us today. My goal will be less to convey the book’s subject matter and more to inspire my readers to read the book under discussion and books more generally and reflect on the process of reading and writing. Today most scientists live and run in the fast lane, writing large grant proposals and short papers with no time to read or write anything more than a few pages; we live in a world where short-term performance is rewarded and not sustained scholarship. Indeed, it has become fashionable to look down upon reading and writing books as old fashioned. My goal is to reverse this trend and put the mojo back into reading and writing books in science.

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Suggested Reading

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Correspondence to Raghavendra Gadagkar.

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Raghavendra Gadagkar is DST Year of Science Chair Professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Honorary Professor at JNCASR, and Non-Resident Permanent Fellow of the Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute for Advanced Study), Berlin. During the past 40 years he has established an active school of research in the area of animal behaviour, ecology and evolution. The origin and evolution of cooperation in animals, especially in social insects, such as ants, bees and wasps, is a major goal of his research. http://ces.iisc.ac.in/hpg/ragh. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Raghavendra_Gadagkar

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Gadagkar, R. Bibliophilia: The Father of Modern Ecology. Reson 27, 839–853 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-022-1377-3

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