The chapter begins with the classic image of the scientist that every person imagines in their mind. “The lone scientist, usually male and usually white” (19) who works in his isolated room working like a machine, removed from the real world. However, the author quickly refutes this misconception and states that scientists have many different thought processes and that that there is no automatic set of rules that a scientist follows to get to a certain answer. I myself believed in the former version of the scientist, conducting his research alone in a dirty lab coat. However, the next paragraph mentions that science is actually more social than many thought it to be.

Many researchers and scientists keep in contact with each other and work together on their research in order to get to the solution faster and more effectively. I was surprised by this because I thought that scientists wanted to keep their findings to themselves. Because many large discoveries are kept secret until the scientists are 100% sure they are right, I would think that scientists would never be willing to spread their findings with their fellow workers.

I enjoyed reading about the Project FeederWatch because it encouraged people who weren’t originally interested in science to observe birds more scientifically and ask questions that scientists would ask on a normal basis, thus encouraging regular people to “fine-tune their observation skills” and become more in tune with their scientific side.  I like when individuals go out of their comfort zone and try out new approaches to regular activities in order to get more meaning out of simple activities like birdwatching.