I've just finished his autobiography "Homage to Gaia". I've read dozens of scientists' biographies, but this stands out. Funny, unusual, very warm and humane with a lot of good thoughts about work, freelancing, science and history. Very recommended. My favorite story is when NASA asks him how to detect life on Mars and he answers "by an entropy reduction meter". The rest of the story is epic and very educational!
Yes, by far! The Gervais Principle is brilliant and after reading it a lot falls into place. It also corroborates with Slava's experience https://www.spakhm.com/p/how-to-get-promoted
Dr. Gabor Maté appears to be a quack trying to sell some dubious books and courses. His hypotheses are not supported on an evidence-based medicine basis.
I thought that the emotional life-history pattern of cancer patients is quite well researched and linking trauma, anxiety and stress to cancer is not his hypothesis, he is just popularizing it.
To be fair, sometimes it's not unreasonable. There is a huge difference between being in an often tiny team smashing out code to get a product out the door and leading multiple teams specialising in multiple different disciplines.
There's also a huge difference between being able to architect a piece of software and being able to work out a 5 year technology roadmap, manage budgets, analyse the competitive landscape, manage multiple stakeholders etc...
For some people that difference is the difference between having an enjoyable job and absolutely hating going to work...
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