Unfortunately, many researchers are not well prepared on how to write a convincing proposal; often, this leads to the frustrating consequence of having their proposals rejected, even if the research ideas were worth exploring. This book is aimed at providing researchers with the basic guidelines for effective research proposals. It is slim, mostly practical, and rich with real-world examples. The author served as a program director at the US National Science Foundation (NSF).

The book is structured in six chapters, each ending with a section with thought-provoking questions. The first chapter is quite introductory, as it presents some basic notions concerning scientific research, for example, research classification and the steps of the scientific method. Philosophical prospects on the matter are not reported in the book; besides, the author’s analogy between scientific research and puzzle solving may not find the reader in agreement, since puzzle solving is mostly a deductive task while scientific research is mostly abductive. Nonetheless, the chapter provides a number of examples to clarify the main ideas.

Chapters 2 and 3 are the core of the book. The second chapter provides an in-depth analysis on the main qualities a scientific proposal must possess to have a chance of being funded. Here, the author compares the US NSF with the European Research Council (ERC), and suggests different decision diagrams to evaluate the opportunity of submitting a proposal. To help the researcher self-assess some of the main requirements of the funding agencies, concrete examples using a widespread bibliometric tool are provided. Chapter 3 describes the main blocks of a scientific proposal (summary, the project plan, expected impact, and so on); for each, a careful description of common mistakes is provided.

The pragmatic spirit of the book is in these two chapters, where even experienced readers may find useful hints. On the other hand, chapter 4, on conducting research after its approval, is more theoretical and, in my opinion, of little practical use. The last chapter is written from the point of view of the funding agencies and research organizations (mainly US universities). Both chapters are of little help to researchers who have a proposal to write, but they may be of some value to the reviewers of project proposals.

Overall, the book is recommended for all those involved in research proposals, both those who write and those who review. The whole book is based on the widely established assumption that good research is done through projects.