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A PhD Is Not Enough: A Guide To Survival In Science By Peter J. Feibelman ( Basic Books )
Release Date: 1993-12-20
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $16.50
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Product Description
Despite your graduate education, brainpower, and technical prowess, your career in scientific research is far from assured. Permanent positions are scarce, science survival is rarely part of formal graduate training, and a good mentor is hard to find. This exceptional volume explains what stands between you and fulfilling long-term research career. Bringing the key survival skills into focus, A Ph.D. Is Not Enough! proposes a rational approach to establishing yourself as a scientist. It offers sound advice of selecting a thesis or postdoctoral adviser, choosing among research jobs in academia, government laboratories, and industry, preparing for an employment interview, and defining a research program. This book will help you make your oral presentations effective, your journal articles compelling, and your grant proposals successful. A Ph.D. Is Not Enough should be required reading for anyone on the threshold of a career in science.
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 Honest looks at academia are hard to find. This is one. ( telemann )
For those like myself, interested in science policy, Fiebelman provides an unusually candid view of research life with the "Queen of the Sciences", physics. As an earth scientist I used to tell physicists I met that I figured that physicists could do anything that any other scientist could do - only better. Fortunately, they didn't want to do all those other things - leaving room for us.This is a joke - if other scientific types are taking me seriously and getting mad (hm, well there's some truth here, anyway).
Beyond the specifics regarding university science departments, such as the publish or perish syndrome, grantsmanship, and requirements for promotion and tenure, the book inadvertently, perhaps, touches on a larger issue: where does the research university's activities fit in with society and its needs? Some academic research departments place inordinate emphasis on specialized subdisciplines through peer-reviewed publications. They may operate in invisible colleges in which participants communicate with each other but are isolated from the larger society both with respect to science as well as the nation's needs.
In such departments publication may come to serve competitive or self-preservation goals more than meaningful larger objectives. This kind of condition is one of the reasons for the enormous proliferation of literature a good deal of which may be duplicative in character. E.g. the keywords, "intensity interferometry" in Google Scholar yields 77,000 scholarly articles or books. How does one extract meaningful synthesis or the best insights out of such accumulations?
This is where Fiebelman's suggestion that work in industry may yield value in the early stages of academic careers is interesting. Almost by definition, work in industry must serve realistic needs. The research literature and methodologies to which individuals are exposed tend to reflect this. I got this kind of benefit with respect to geology in my first job, working for an oil company. I "sat on wells", analyzing cuttings from rocks and cores in drillholes, experiencing "backward trips in geological time". I became familiar with geophysical logs and other technologies that added valuable perspectives to my later research career.
To sum up, Fiebelman's suggestion to new graduates or others entering the job market that jobs in industry can yield benefits down the road are well worth paying attention to. From the larger U.S. policy perspective Fiebelman's book also offers useful insights.
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 Could have more ( qr2 )
I think this book could be really helpful to first year Master or PhD students, especially those who want a career dedicated to research in academia or also a government lab. I thought the subject matter was good and written in an interesting way, but my big problem was the lack of detail and excess of anecdotes. Mostly, the chapters seem more like half-chapters; introductions to good ideas that aren't elaborated upon. As someone who is at the end of a first post-doc looking for "what's next" outside of academia, there was not any revelatory information in this book - just good reminders on how to be savvy about your scientific career and make a good reputation for yourself.
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Great thoughts! ( jbortnik )
This is a great little book for those who have recently gotten their Ph.D.'s or postdocs, and are wondering: "what next?". The book touches on everything from giving good talks, writing good papers, and even comparing the pros and cons of various career tracks. This should be essential reading for young scientists.
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Mostly obvious advice, but helpful if you read between the lines ( sashowal )
Overall, I did not find this book to be helpful upon reading it. The vast majority of the advice is either obvious or something you already know by the time you become aware of and purchase this book. Who doesn't know that working long hours and refraining from having children is one of the best ways to succeed in science? Who doesn't know that having a good mentor is an invaluable asset, but not guaranteed to happen because we as scientists receive no training in how to be good mentors?
On the positive side, if you read the anecdotes and success/failure stories that constitute a significant fraction of the book, there is a lot to be learned. Some provide hope because they remind you that others have successfully overcome the same challenges you have faced. Others reinforce the often overlooked point that, while having a supportive mentor is beneficial, we are in a career where being your own best advocate is a must. Taking the anecdotal stories as advice on how to best represent yourself and prepare for your career can make this a useful read. That having been said, the value of the advice tapers off the later in your career you read it.
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A must-read book
I am currently finishing my Ph.D. study. I thought that it is too late to read this book. However, it is NOT! Based my own experience, the descriptions of Ph.D. study in the book are really accurate and the suggestions given by the author are really helpful.
It is never too late to read this book, strong buy!
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