Book excerpt: Being, or wanting to become, a scientist requires academic training in the science subjects. To succeed as a research scientist and educator requires specific as well as general skills. Skills for a Scientific Life provides insight into how to be successful. This career book is intended for potential entrants, early career and mid-career scientists for a wide range of science disciplines. Features Offers advice on specific skills for research article writing, grant writing, and refereeing as well as teaching undergraduates and supervising postgraduates Provides helpful case studies resulting from the author's teaching and mentoring experience Contributes a special emphasis on skills for realizing wider impacts such as sustainability and gender equality Presents several chapters on leadership skills both in academe and in government service Concludes with an emphasis on the author’s overall underpinning of the topics from the point of view of ethics