There's a lecture by Richard Hamming that I feel is quite relevant to your post. http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html http://www.cs.virgi

There's a lecture by Richard Hamming that I feel is quite relevant to your post. http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html Most of it is about research proper but he also includes a passage relating on how to respond to other people and which battles to choose.