How To Swim With Sharks: A Primer

by Voltaire Cousteau

In 1973, the hematologist Richard Johns, using the pseudonym Voltaire Cousteau, published an iconic essay on how one survives in academic medicine.  It has inspired many colleagues many of us for decades.  Strangely, an appreciation of Johns’ essay has been recently published by F. Shanahan in the Quarterly Journal of Medicine.

Forward

 Actually, nobody wants to swim with sharks. It is not an acknowledged sport and it is neither enjoyable nor exhilarating. These instructions are written primarily for the benefit of those, who, by virtue of their occupation, find they must swim and find that the water is infested with sharks.

It is of obvious importance to learn that the waters are shark infested before commencing to swim. It is safe to say that this initial determination has already been made. If the waters were infested, the naïve swimmer is by now probably beyond help; at the very least, he has doubtless lost any interest in learning how to swim with sharks.

Finally, swimming with sharks is like any other skill: It cannot be learned from books alone; the novice must practice in order to develop the skill. The following rules simply set forth the fundamental principles which, if followed will make it possible to survive while becoming expert through practice.

For Links:

References:

1. How to swim with sharks: a primer. Cousteau V. Perspect Biol Med. 1973;16(4):525-8. doi: 10.1353/pbm.1973.0039. Download How To Swim With Sharks (this is a reprint of the original)

2. How to swim with sharks: a perspective on Voltaire Cousteau's primer. Shanahan F. QJM. 2018 Feb 5. Full Text Link.