Principles of Effective Research--Michael Nielsen

http://www.qinfo.org/people/nielsen/blog/archive/000120.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Nielsen

http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/

His new book: The future of science
http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/the-future-of-science-2/

"Developing a taste for what's important:"


 "He advised young people in the audience not to work towards a Nobel Prize, but instead to aim their research in directions that they personally find fun and interesting."


"In fact, in any given research field there are usually only a tiny number of papers that are really worth reading. You are almost certainly better off reading deeply in the ten most important papers of a research field than you are skimming the top five hundred."


"Systematically setting aside time to think (and talk with colleagues) about where the important problems are is an excellent way of developing as a problem-creator."

"On this topic, let me point out one myth that exerts a powerful influence (often subconsciously) on people: the idea that difficulty is a good indicator of the importance of a problem. It is true that an elegant solution to a difficult problem (even one not a priori important) often contains important ideas. However, I believe that most people consistently over rate the importance of difficulty. Often far more important is what your work enables, the connections that it makes apparent, the unifying themes uncovered, the new questions asked, and so on."


[difficulty is not an indicator of the importance of a problem?]