NHS-R Book Club

Nujcharee Haswell

Data Scientist Apprentice, North Yorkshire County Council

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience; this is a happy life.” – Mark Twain.

Since lockdown earlier this year, I have had more time to do thing I’ve never had the chance to do before. Every year my new years resolution is to read as many books as I can by the end of the year. That new year resolutions keeps rolling over into next year like the national lottery grand prize.

What we all are going through this year is unprecedented. Anxiety is provoked and this has been the psychological impact of this pandemic many of us can resonate with. As working from home has shared the same meaning as living at work, taking a break is much needed. For me, I very much enjoy learning new skills and have grabbed a few good books.

Have you ever read the same paragraphs over and over again and time seems to stand still? I can google, tweet or even stackoverflow my confusions and questions from concepts I can’t grasp but since I am a member of NHS-R Community. I built up my courage and dropped a message in a #random channel asking for a reading buddy. And the feedback was welcoming and just like that, our NHS-R Book club was formed.

I was reading The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data by David Spiegelhalter which has become the first book we chose as a group for the book club.  An hour fortnightly virtual get together and reflect on our learning. What I like most from the past two sessions is the diversity of the group yet we all share common interests, which are applying statistical techniques in answering scientific questions.

I encouraged anyone who likes reading to join because if you like learning, you do not have to learn anything alone. Finding a safe space, a mentor, a buddy whatever label you choose to call. Or I have a better idea, join our #book-club on NHS-R Slack.

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