Tag Archives: clinical microbiology book

“The Purple Cow Giveaway”

All new subscribers this week to the webpage www.microbiologymatters.com will go into a random draw to win one of five copies of my book “The Art of Clinical Microbiology“.

At the end of the week (15th January 2017), I will email the 5 winners to get the delivery addresses (which will obviously be free as well, wherever in the world you are!).

Clinical microbiology is a niche area, so I very much rely on word of mouth to advertise the website. Please share this with your friends and colleagues. Many thanks!

Good luck!

Michael

p.s. I had a look at the website stats for last year (I like stats…), and here are the top 10 most popular (by visitor clicks) posts from 2016. They are all hyperlinked.

  1. “Why you should not buy a microbiology textbook”
  2. “The dark art of overnight incubation”
  3. “Too much knowledge”
  4. “Selling your soul to the devil”
  5. “The digital microbiologist”
  6. “The rock star microbiologist”
  7. “The need for speed”
  8. “Tricky Trichomonas”
  9. “The Trade-off”
  10. “The blind microbiologist”

 

 

 

 

“Failure”

Failed_130059It is June 1994, and I have just failed my microbiology finals at Medical School.

Too much alcohol, way too many parties, and definitely not enough study…

I was shocked. I had never failed an exam in my life before, but given the above, I should have expected it.

I was also indignant. How dare someone tell me I’m not much good at something!

So my summer of 94′ was spent in the Edinburgh Medical Library studying for the Resit Exam. It was during this time (of intense study and contemplation) that I developed a deep passion for microbiology, a passion that has never left me to this day.

The irony is not lost on me. Since that initial failure, I have gone on to become a consultant clinical microbiologist. I have people from all over the world clicking on my blog/website to get my opinions on clinical microbiology. Indeed, I have even compiled a book of my microbiological musings!

I have had failures since, and I will undoubtedly have further failures in the future.

Because failure is part of life. Everyone fails at something, at some point.

Learn from your failures and move on…

Michael

“On Sale Now”

book_4380

Just to let you know that this book is now on sale. Just click on this link

The price of the book covers the printing, publishing and shipping costs, with a bit of a discount for those wanting to buy more than one copy.

I got 200 books printed as a 1st edition, and have donated about 20 copies. So there is about 180 left to sell. I have no idea how well or how badly they will sell, I will just have to wait and see…

I have never sold anything in my life before!, so hopefully it will go smoothly. Just let me know if you encounter any problems.

As a clinical microbiology book (as you are probably aware, this is not a textbook in the classical sense of the word) it is probably quite unique. There is unlikely to have been a similar book published before, and probably never will be again!

To those people who decide to buy a copy, for themselves or their laboratory, many thanks. It is much appreciated. For those who decide not to, no problem whatsoever.

This will be the last post dedicated to this book. Normal service will resume with the next post!

Michael