At a recent conference, I was engaged in a multiple-day bidding war over an item for sale at the silent auction. The item eventually went for more than three times what my maximum bid was and ended up raising a lot of money for student travel. Still, I was sad to have lost, even though matching the winning bid would have meant not eating for a week or so.
The item was a first edition copy of Eugenie Clark’s classic book ” Lady and the Sharks”, and since Eugenie was there, she volunteered to give a personalized signature to the winner. Close friends know that “the Lady and the Sharks” was very influential in my decision to become a shark biologist, and Eugenie Clark was one of my childhood heroes.