Great Science Requires Deep Concentration
“To pursue fully the topic of our research with the limited facilities that we have, let us forget unrelated pursuits and the parasitic ideas connected with the futile trifles of everyday life. Using strength and perseverance, concentrate deeply only on information pertinent to the question at hand. During the gestation period of our work, sentence ourselves to ignorance of everything else that is going on–politics, literature, music, and idle gossip. there are occasions when ignorance is a great virtue, almost a state of heroism. Useless books distract attention and are thus weighty, occupying as much space in our brinas as on the library shelf. They can spoil or hinder mental adjustments to the problem at hand. Although popular opinion may not agree, ‘Knowledge occupies space.’” (p. 25)