Letter: It's lonely at the top with the CV of a confirmed `nerd'

Peter Richardson
Friday 17 January 1997 19:02 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sir: Charlie Skelton's article on listing hobbies in your CV ("Sky divers need not apply", 16 January) makes disturbing reading for confirmed loners like me (hobbies: gardening, sitting in libraries for hours, Internet discussion groups, hill-walking in New Zealand).

To redress the balance, I would like to point out that not all loners are problematic in the context of employment. Indeed, annoying though it may be to scientists who resent the "nerdy" stereotype, our personality type is rather better suited to many types of scientific research (where dedicated interest in a very focused area, perhaps devoid of "human interest", is often necessary) than are those of more "well-rounded people-persons". I like to think that loners and people-persons complement each other, both types having their value in different circumstances.

PETER RICHARDSON

Milton, Cambridgeshire

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in