As Britain鈥檚 minister for science and innovation, Lord Sainsbury is mostly
concerned with policy, but he still finds time for the nuts and bolts of
science. One of his favourite reads is Edward O. Wilson鈥檚 The Diversity of Life
(W. W. Norton, 1993), as much for the writing as the science.
Another is Laboratories of Democracy by David Osborne (Harvard Business
School Press, 1988), which tells how American states boosted their economies in
the 1980s by strengthening the links between their universities and industry. 鈥淚
ought to have read it years ago,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t has a lot of relevance to Britain.鈥�
On a lighter note, he is fond of Rex Stout鈥檚 detective stories鈥攕o much
so that he鈥檚 got nearly all fifty-odd of the author鈥檚 books. He recommends Too
Many Cooks as a good starting point.
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