This year, I decided to read 1 non-fiction book per month, as a coping mechanism toward all the work I have to do. Also for motivation. I didn't want these books to be about graduate school, because, honestly, no one wants to think about their PhD outside of their PhD. I decided I will only read 1 book related to PhD, and that I would do it early on. So, I had to choose wisely, and I went with 'Surviving your stupid stupid decision to go to grad school' by Adam Ruben.
This book was a great read in the beginning. It was humorous and it made me laugh a lot until it made me cry. Realizing how I rarely get exposed to sunlight anymore and how the guy who serves me coffee on campus makes more money than I do while working fewer hours really hit very close to home. I had to put it down and assess my life decisions before getting back to it and enjoying the rest. Hence, my blog post Let's reinvent ourselves in 2022 together.
There are many truths in this book, like how most papers published out there are just redundant. In the beginning, a paper will tell you what they're going to tell you, and they tell you the stuff they want to tell you, and in the end, they tell you what they've told you. Have you noticed that pattern? Spot on!
Ruben made a great point about filler pages in scientific papers and theses when he wrote a PREFACE, a FOREWORD, a RPOLOGUE and an INTRODUCTION. And let's not forget the incredibly long title of the book, which I attribute to mimicking the incredibly long titles of papers and theses.
Overall, this book amused me with the jokes and the illustrations. Sometimes it got too personal. But aside from the jokes, there are 2 segments near the end of the book where I noticed the author being sincere and serious.
In the chapter 'Let my pupil go: getting the fuck out of grad school,' Ruben writes about his wedding and how he ended up spending his honeymoon on emails, and later realizing that's not normal. It is very easy to get lost in academia and get carried away and forget about what really matters in life. And what matters is us and the people we care about.
The other serious thing Ruben states (and the only real advice he gives in this book) is: Take control. Don't wait for guidance or help. Plan what you need to do to graduate and take control.
If you're a grad student, I totally recommend this book.
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