Michael Lemonick:  

Life I went from Princeton High direct to Harvard College (Mrs. Stecchini's comment when she heard I'd gotten in: "Well, you didn't deserve it, did you?"), where I spent four years wasting what could have been a great experience. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to major in, and ended up, unhappily, in Economics. I tried the band, but never felt at home. And so on. On graduation, I flailed around for a while in various low-level jobs, ending up in at a small publishing house in Princeton, which became, after five years, so intolerable that I was forced to think seriously about what I wanted to do when I grew up. I loved science, but had no knack for being a scientists. I was good at writing, but had nothing special to say; fiction was out. I finally realized that I could combine my interests and abilities by becoming a science journalist, which is what I went back to grad school to do. For once, I had a good idea: I've been a science writer since 1983, first at the relatively unknown Science Digest and then, starting in 1986, at TIME magazine. It's satisfying, rewarding and all sorts of fun. Don't know how I got so lucky, but there you h...Expand for more