Letter: It's lonely at the top with the CV of a confirmed `nerd'

Sir: Charlie Skelton's article on listing hobbies in your CV ("Sky divers need not apply", 16 January) makes disturbing reading for confirmed loners like me (hobbies: gardening, sitting in libraries for hours, Internet discussion groups, hill-walking in New Zealand).

To redress the balance, I would like to point out that not all loners are problematic in the context of employment. Indeed, annoying though it may be to scientists who resent the "nerdy" stereotype, our personality type is rather better suited to many types of scientific research (where dedicated interest in a very focused area, perhaps devoid of "human interest", is often necessary) than are those of more "well-rounded people-persons". I like to think that loners and people-persons complement each other, both types having their value in different circumstances.

PETER RICHARDSON

Milton, Cambridgeshire