Marvin the Martian

Druger injects the same type of humor into his latest book, The Misadventures of Marvin (Syracuse
University Press; 136 pages; $17.95/softcover), which SU Chancellor
Nancy Cantor has described as “a witty reminiscence from an
unforgettable professor who made biology exciting and fun for 40,000
undergraduates over the years—a delightful read.”

Categorized by SU Press as a memoir, this short tome contains what
Druger calls, “lessons in life. A series of experiences that could have
happened to anybody. You read them, you think, gee, this could have
happened to me too. I’d like to promote the idea of people thinking
about their own lives. Everything in the book is true, so in that case
it’s a memoir. They’re funny things that happened and because they’re
so stupid I started making a computer file. In fact, I have enough for
another book: More Misadventures of Marvin.” 

When Druger told a friend that he was writing a book about those
stupid things, his wife Pat couldn’t help herself: “And it will be a
very fat book.” Well, not so fat that Druger doesn’t have more content
for a second book. Life does go on, of course, and in Druger’s case,
retirement has brought its share of goofiness to write about.

Druger reads from his Misadventures, as well as a self-published book of poetry, Strange Creatures & Other Poems (2004),
on Thursday, May 27, 7 p.m., at Creekside Books in Skaneateles, and
Wednesday, June 23, 7 p.m., at Barnes & Noble in DeWitt. “This is
my first romantic comedy book,” he says of The Misadventures of Marvin.
“But it’s not my first book. I’ve written plenty of professional books
about science, but this is my first general interest book, as opposed
to an academic one.”

Among those many misadventures, related as chapters in the book, are
“Love and Marriage,” Getting Older” and “Lessons in Life.” He will be
conveying many of his humorous anecdotes during both book talks, and
signing copies afterward. And while the focus will be the Misadventures
book, he’ll also read some of his humorous, well-rhymed poetry that
especially resonates with children. “The poetry book gets so much good
response,” he notes, “but it wasn’t published by a ‘real’ press, so it
doesn’t get the widespread distribution this new book is getting.”

In fact, like his memoir, Druger has more poems he’d like to memorialize, so he’s working on a second book of verse, Even Stranger Creatures & Other Poems.
“I hope to be finished later in the summer,” he says. Still, he admits
he’s pretty unschooled about this publishing business. When SU Press
forwarded a copy of the book cover to him, he was alarmed, thinking the
e-mail attachment had been cut off. “When I asked them about it, and
told them that the bottom of my head was not visible, they said that’s
the way the artist intended it.”

Druger knows all about widespread distribution. His 47-year tenure
at SU brought him into contact with tens of thousands of
undergraduates, many of them wide-eyed incoming freshmen, and allowed
him to hone his well-timed delivery. His classes are legendary among SU
alumni, and he was named a Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence,
awarded to the best professors at the university. He currently can also
be heard several times a week on WAER-FM 88.3 during his 90-second
“Science on the Radio” series. 

Druger admits it’s been difficult moving from teaching at the
university level to retirement, which was official as of Aug. 15, 2009.
“I’m still transitioning,” he says. “I’ve taught for 55 years, way over
40,000 students. I get up and ask myself, ‘What’s today? Oh, it’s
Tuesday; who cares? It’s Wednesday; who cares?’ And I just finished
Project Advance, in which I teach freshman science courses to seniors
in his school; that ended yesterday. Had a retirement luncheon. Once
you retire, you can’t un-retire. You have to reinvent yourself. You
have to get a new identity.”

So in his new career, expect to see more of the 76-year-old Marvin
Druger interacting with students, teaching poetry workshops to younger
children and reading his poems and humorous anecdotes to audiences of
all ages. 

“Everybody loves the poetry book,” he notes. “I love to see people’s
faces light up when they’re about to laugh, especially children. And I
love talking to students, about life, their mission, science education
and education in general. I try to make them think about life in a new
way because biology is life. And I like to tell them that there is no
such thing as a bad experience.”

Creekside Books & Coffee, 35 Fennell St., Skaneateles, hosts
Marvin Druger Thursday, May 27, at 7 p.m. Admission is free. For more
information, call 685-0379. The June 23 book signing at Barnes &
Noble, 3454 Erie Blvd. E., DeWitt, also takes place at 7 p.m. Pat
Druger will be making cookies and there will also be cake to accompany
her husband’s witticisms. For more information, call 449-2947.