I. Consideraciones sobre los métodos generales
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A Nobel laureate’s advice to young scientists
Advice for a Young Investigator Reglas y consejos sobre investigación científica
Santiago Ramón y Cajal, 1923
Santiago Ramón y Cajal’s complete text from the 6th edition (Madrid, 1923), not an adaptation: advice to young scientists from the 1906 Nobel laureate in medicine. In the catalog it is C1: about 51,200 words and 31 words per sentence on average. Three prologues and 11 chapters, from a beginner’s doubts to writing a paper and the duties of the state; chapters V and VI are the lightest, the opening chapters I and II the densest.
- C1
- 51 249 words
- 9-14 hours
Will this text hold?
B2
Earlier
At B2 the 31-word sentences and the scientific vocabulary will slow you down: expect to translate whole sentences in chapters I and II and to look up words like dilucidar or rodajes.
B2C1
This text
At C1 you can follow Cajal’s long periods: the argument is orderly and clear, and chapters V, VI, IX and X run at 23-28 words per sentence, so you can read them with only the odd word translated.
Check this passageC2
With room to spare
At C2 the whole book reads freely, including the prologue to the second edition and chapters I and II, where sentences reach about 38 words.
Start readingThe average sentence has 31 words, and nearly one word in five (18.7%) has 9 letters or more; in the catalog the C1 line is one in ten. Cajal writes like the academic orator of 1897 he was: long periods, lists and abstract nouns, with scientific terms such as histólogo, bacteriólogo or hipótesis directriz. The difficulty is uneven: the prologue to the second edition and chapter I run at about 38 words per sentence, chapters V and VI at about 23, chapters IX and X at about 28. Comparable C1 prose in the catalog averages 30 words (Facundo), 25 (Del sentimiento trágico de la vida) and 21 (El hombre mediocre): the sentences here are a touch longer, but they stop short of the 38 words or more of the C2 books. Hence C1. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 51 249
- words
- 31
- words in an average sentence
- 9-14
- hours of reading
- 1923
- Imprenta de J. Pueyo
Imprenta de J. Pueyo, 1923. Project Gutenberg
What it is about, without the ending
The book began as the speech Cajal read on joining the Royal Academy of Sciences in December 1897, and it tells a would-be researcher how to become one. It starts with the fears to shed (too much awe of the great masters, the belief that every subject is exhausted, contempt for pure science, a sense of being slow), then the moral qualities and the knowledge to build, the “diseases of the will” to avoid, the steps of observation, experiment and guiding hypothesis, how to write a paper and how to teach disciples. The last chapters turn to the state and to Spain’s scientific lag. What Cajal proposes as the remedy is not revealed here.
Compare two places
Reglas y consejos sobre investigación científica
V. Enfermedades de la voluntad
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Choose an underlined word.
Find the main verb first
Cajal builds one idea over many clauses. In “la actitud del intelecto solo puede ser verdaderamente útil y fecunda reduciéndose modestamente a observarlos, describirlos…” the main verb is puede ser, and what follows is a series of steps (observarlos, describirlos, compararlos y clasificarlos). Find the verb first, then read the list as one sequence.
Illness as irony
Cajal describes the failings of scientists in the language of medicine (in this chapter, variedad morbosa, síntomas, tratamiento). It is irony, not illness: once you hear that tone, the list of habits reads as a portrait. The futures (quedará, pasará, se consagrará) describe what such a person always does, not a prediction.
Chapters
- ·Prólogo de la segunda edición
- ·Prólogo de la tercera edición
- ·Prólogo de las últimas ediciones
- IConsideraciones sobre los métodos generales
- IIPreocupaciones enervadoras del principiante
- IIICualidades de orden moral que debe poseer el investigador
- IVLo que debe saber el aficionado a la investigación biológica
- VEnfermedades de la voluntad
- VICondiciones sociales favorables a la obra científica
- VIIMarcha de la investigación científica
- VIIIRedacción del trabajo científico
- IXEl investigador como maestro
- XDeberes del Estado en relación con la producción científica
- XIÓrganos sociales encargados de nuestra reconstrucción
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
€1 a month
In chapter I, one sentence, “Ante los fenómenos que desfilan por los órganos sensoriales, la actitud del intelecto solo puede ser verdaderamente útil…”, runs to 47 words before it ends: translating the whole sentence in Reader keeps the thread.
ReaderIf this book is not the one
All books at this levelBefore you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
It is the original, not an adaptation: Cajal’s complete text with his three prologues and all 11 chapters. The reader follows the 6th edition (Madrid, 1923, Imprenta de J. Pueyo) as transcribed by Project Gutenberg, whose transcriber’s note says the spelling was brought up to the Real Academia’s 2010 norms. The cover shown is the 5th edition of 1920.
Is there an audiobook?
Advice for a Young Investigator has no audio on MovaReader: the book is read on screen, and the translation appears when you tap a word. You will need it most for scientific and bookish words such as carapachos, rodajes or dilucidar.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes, with the Reader plan. It helps most in the long periods of the opening chapters, for example “Ante los fenómenos que desfilan por los órganos sensoriales, la actitud del intelecto solo puede ser verdaderamente útil…”, one sentence of 47 words. Without the plan, single words are translated up to the daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
About 9-14 hours for the whole book, at the pace of someone reading with translation of new words. The three prologues are short (about 240 to 1,100 words) and the 11 chapters run from about 1,900 to 8,100 words, so one chapter makes a good sitting.
Where does the text get easier?
Chapters V and VI are the lightest, at about 23 words per sentence, with IX and X at about 28. The densest part is the opening: the prologue to the second edition and chapter I at about 38 words per sentence, then chapter II at about 36. Long words stay frequent throughout, from 16.5% to 22.2% across the chapters, so the vocabulary does not ease, only the syntax.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes. Once you sign in, the reader keeps your last place and the words you opened. Any prologue or chapter opens from the contents on this page, so you can jump straight to, say, chapter VII on observation, experiment and the guiding hypothesis.