Rachel Neff’s story of the best-laid plans of doctoral students reminds us all that life offers many paths to success. Her resilience teaches valuable lessons as she struggles with horrendous interviews, dauntingly intense academic documents, and an employer’s seemingly random expectation that she chase literal chickens on New Year’s Eve. Neff’s experience is atypical only in its specific details; many science trainees face obstacles, and Chasing Chickens provides an important reassurance that—though they may feel otherwise on a daily basis—they are competent, they are deserving, and they are not alone.

Adam Ruben, Science careers columnist and author of Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School