tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post4104756611763566432..comments2024-03-29T07:15:11.234+00:00Comments on Grumpy Old Bookman: More short reviewsMichael Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11338398159818400930noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-29868775917449354232007-08-20T00:07:00.000+01:002007-08-20T00:07:00.000+01:00Yeah I think that's true Clary.Of course every Phd...Yeah I think that's true Clary.<BR/><BR/>Of course every Phd student is in general a cut above the average graduate, more of a researcher than most other people.<BR/><BR/>And as much as I criticize the system, you can bet your bat and balls on it that I'll go cap in hand back to it, to do some meaningless unoriginal research, simply to make a living.<BR/><BR/>Mercy on the psuedo-intellectual indeed, for just like their cousin, the literary types -- stuck miserably between commercial fiction and truly classic fiction -- there can be little real joy to be had in being a half-way man, desiring and struggling for something higher in life but unable to distinguish oneself.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14399344025381816596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-35250660197645867692007-08-19T17:31:00.000+01:002007-08-19T17:31:00.000+01:00Lovely thoughts on academia!On the other hand... w...Lovely thoughts on academia!<BR/><BR/>On the other hand... writing articles for academic journals (which basically nobody but a handful of academics loks at - author of the article included), even if they are absolute humbug (which so often tends to be the case), actually demands time and effort. (whereas towards your students you can just parrot some encyclopaedia commonplaces for years in a row - most of them won't be listening anyway.)<BR/>Doesn't that show some dedication to the academic profession? It's a bit like being a politician (or a pop star, which ammounts to the same): you have to continually make a fool of yourself and blare out all sort of nonsense just to keep your job.<BR/><BR/>Mercy on the (pseudo-)intellectuals! Also they are just trying to get by in a meaningless universe - by making things even more confused, of course...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-28805104976642999562007-08-19T04:00:00.000+01:002007-08-19T04:00:00.000+01:00What they say in Canada is "publish or prairies" -...What they say in Canada is "publish or prairies" -- the assumption being that if you don't get enough articles and books out there, you won't get the plum jobs which are assumed to be coastal. But I join the howl that this is a charade, a bit of mummery to guarantee that no one will come along and contradict or question those profs with those plum jobs. Many disciplines have become micro-disciplines where the idea of anonymity has evaporated. Advances in several fields are so radical -- like those affected by gene theory -- that the "experts" don't understand them and anyway find them only heresy. Much knowledge is theological with the god being one's immediate predecessor.<BR/><BR/>Prairie Marymscriverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13567509503405689139noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-42162292400255304742007-08-19T00:34:00.000+01:002007-08-19T00:34:00.000+01:00If one of these 500 million published papers with ...If one of these 500 million published papers with actual earth shaking content fell in the forest, would anyone hear it?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-74521758122022942552007-08-18T14:32:00.000+01:002007-08-18T14:32:00.000+01:00A small correction: Jim Kelly won the Dagger in th...A small correction: Jim Kelly won the <A HREF="http://www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/2006/library.html" REL="nofollow">Dagger in the Library</A> in 2006 for the whole body of his work rather than for <I>The Coldest Blood</I>. He was judged "the author of crime fiction whose work is currently giving the greatest enjoyment to readers".Roger Cornwellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13988304578628225052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-32776135246534675732007-08-18T12:21:00.000+01:002007-08-18T12:21:00.000+01:00One convenient route to academic fame is to get to...One convenient route to academic fame is to get together with a group of about 20 others, on the condition that all your names go on every paper that any one of you writes. Abracadabra! You've just boosted your productivity 2000%! Medical researchers are particularly good at this...Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09457784693433856193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-47100530495960353502007-08-18T12:19:00.000+01:002007-08-18T12:19:00.000+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09457784693433856193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-47596421039896277002007-08-17T21:07:00.000+01:002007-08-17T21:07:00.000+01:00i'd have thought your note on academia an exaggera...i'd have thought your note on academia an exaggeration before i went there. i thought Literary Theory was some sort of joke when i first heard about it too. It really is like a freakshow, you want to point and shout, "But, Emperor, you've butt-naked!"<BR/><BR/>i wanted to do a PhD and was twice rejected. Then i realised it'd be next to impossible to write what i want, which would be fairly original, in an academic format: any real originality tends to be punished. The masses of tripe vomited out by academia stun the mind. It's a deluge of mediocrity. When i was used to read academic books i generally didn't touch anything published after about 1985, as it was almost certain to be worthless.<BR/><BR/>This is only relevant to the Humanities, i guess - the subjectivity of the field encourages rampant bullshit as Sciences do not, or so i speculate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-91711324390945011852007-08-17T14:24:00.000+01:002007-08-17T14:24:00.000+01:00The whole academic system is a bit farcical.I rece...The whole academic system is a bit farcical.<BR/><BR/>I recently did a PhD and I can honestly say it didn't really involve much original research.<BR/>And that goes for most PhD's I think.<BR/><BR/>And one of the major reasons I did it, was simply because I realised that others less intelligent than I had done one.<BR/><BR/>The best academic system would be one in which the true researchers -- those handful of geiuses who can genuinely advance the knowledge of humanity -- are given all the funding and the others are told not to publish papers because it just dilutes the overall quality.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14399344025381816596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6656468.post-57078980857335593442007-08-17T14:10:00.000+01:002007-08-17T14:10:00.000+01:00Re: Martin Rundkvist, 'Scholarly Journals between ...Re: Martin Rundkvist, 'Scholarly Journals between the Past and the Future'<BR/><BR/>A very entertaining review and much of it no doubt true, but I do have a slight quibble.<BR/><BR/>You write that: "The main theme of this collection is the change, or potential change, from paper to online publishing", and that "My guess is that we will move steadily towards the online model, and a damn good thing too".<BR/><BR/>That change is not potential, nor need you guess at the move. Scholarly journals have been online (and in a big way too) for years now. For a number of reasons (but above all on account of VAT) publishers do still publish a small print-run of paper copies to accompany their online offerings.<BR/><BR/>The <A HREF="http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/" REL="nofollow">Royal Society of Chemistry</A> are doing some of the most interesting things, but it might be instructive to take a look at the journals platforms of some of the larger publishers:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/" REL="nofollow">Blackwell</A><BR/><A HREF="http://www.sciencedirect.com/" REL="nofollow">Elsevier</A><BR/><A HREF="http://highwire.stanford.edu/" REL="nofollow">HighWire</A><BR/><A HREF="http://www.springerlink.com/home/main.mpx" REL="nofollow">Springer</A><BR/><A HREF="http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/home~db=all" REL="nofollow">Taylor & Francis</A><BR/><BR/>There's always plenty of free content available too. And no doubt all of it's been rigorously peer-reviewed...<BR/><BR/>Anton.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com