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Piled Higher and Deeper #4
PhD Chapter 4: Academic Stimulus Package
The fourth collection of the popular comic strip Piled Higher and Deeper, which chronicles life (or the lack thereof) in academia. Includes the popular strip series Quantum Gradnamics, ANOVA: Analysis of Value, Seminar Bingo and many more. Whether you managed to escape academia, are struggling through it, or are thinking of applying to it, this smart comic strip will have you laughing all the way.
184 pages, Paperback
First published March 23, 2009
120 people want to read
About the author
Jorge Cham
38 books211 followersJorge Cham is a Chinese-Panamanian post-doc best known for his popular newspaper and web comic strip Piled Higher and Deeper (PhD Comics). He first started drawing PhD Comics as a graduate student at Stanford University, and has since been syndicated in several university newspapers and in three published book collections.
Jorge Cham received his Bachelor's degree from Georgia Tech in 1997, and earned a PhD in mechanical engineering from Stanford. He subsequently worked at Caltech as an instructor and as a researcher on neural prosthetics.
In 2005, Cham began an invited speaking tour of over 80 major universities delivering his talk titled "The Power of Procrastination". In this lecture, Cham talks about his experiences creating the comic strip and examines the sources of grad students' anxieties. He also explores the guilt and the myths associated with procrastination and argues that in many cases it is actually a good thing.
Jorge Cham received his Bachelor's degree from Georgia Tech in 1997, and earned a PhD in mechanical engineering from Stanford. He subsequently worked at Caltech as an instructor and as a researcher on neural prosthetics.
In 2005, Cham began an invited speaking tour of over 80 major universities delivering his talk titled "The Power of Procrastination". In this lecture, Cham talks about his experiences creating the comic strip and examines the sources of grad students' anxieties. He also explores the guilt and the myths associated with procrastination and argues that in many cases it is actually a good thing.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 7, 2024
Another solid addition to the PhD comic collection with Chapter 4: Academic Stimulus Package. This particular volume covers the strips from 2007-2009 - I'm reading and reviewing it in 2024.
I think overall this is the best so far, but it could just be the introduction of so many graphs. As any graduate student will tell you, adding graphs to prose can get you all sorts of upticks with your advisors. Graphs are seductive.
Technology continues to advance and the characters are finally hitting the commonplace stuff we use today (2024). Facebook makes its first appearance as a time waster for our unnamed protagonist's procrastination. He also adds a second monitor and is thinking about a third. Plus the new monitor is a flatscreen rather than the cathode ray tubes monitor us readers have seen taking up huge amounts of space on the desks of our favorite graduate students.
The back matter, like last time, includes information about Dr. Cham's book tours. The big difference this time is including comic-strip overviews of dissertations and experiments people shared with him during his travels including working with colliders in search of the Higgs-Boson (confirmed in 2012/2013 at CERN, the very place Dr. Cham visited in 2008), how research time works at telescopes, and using cancer cells to measure uranium leakage into ground water. -- This fascinating information providing a jumping off point for Jorge Cham's later interest of creating scientific fact sharing books like "We have No Idea" in 2017 on top of the PhD comics.
Watching authors evolve in interest and ability always fascinates me.
Best of all - the biggest advancement in the technology - is COLOR!!!!
I think overall this is the best so far, but it could just be the introduction of so many graphs. As any graduate student will tell you, adding graphs to prose can get you all sorts of upticks with your advisors. Graphs are seductive.
Technology continues to advance and the characters are finally hitting the commonplace stuff we use today (2024). Facebook makes its first appearance as a time waster for our unnamed protagonist's procrastination. He also adds a second monitor and is thinking about a third. Plus the new monitor is a flatscreen rather than the cathode ray tubes monitor us readers have seen taking up huge amounts of space on the desks of our favorite graduate students.
The back matter, like last time, includes information about Dr. Cham's book tours. The big difference this time is including comic-strip overviews of dissertations and experiments people shared with him during his travels including working with colliders in search of the Higgs-Boson (confirmed in 2012/2013 at CERN, the very place Dr. Cham visited in 2008), how research time works at telescopes, and using cancer cells to measure uranium leakage into ground water. -- This fascinating information providing a jumping off point for Jorge Cham's later interest of creating scientific fact sharing books like "We have No Idea" in 2017 on top of the PhD comics.
Watching authors evolve in interest and ability always fascinates me.
Best of all - the biggest advancement in the technology - is COLOR!!!!
April 19, 2019
Another solid volume of these comics.
May 28, 2019
Always a pleasure to read the PhD comics!
April 6, 2020
I finished it in just one evening. That says a lot. I’m not sure whether to laugh or be worried. I can relate to many scenes 😅.
April 21, 2020
Another book of comic strips about the Ph.D. Life! The 4th book in the series, Jorge Cham does not disappoint!
February 12, 2010
It is so relieving to know that we are not alone: graduate students around the world experience the same problems, adventures, fun, disappointment while conducting research... These comics helped me to refresh my mood, taught me how to laugh at myself and my life :).
Actually, a friend told me that Cecilia, the character in the comics, reminds him of me. Well, we are both female researcher in CS, a highly men dominated field, we are likely to have similar experiences and behavior (yes I love chocolate and the lab is my universe :)).
Check the website: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php
Actually, a friend told me that Cecilia, the character in the comics, reminds him of me. Well, we are both female researcher in CS, a highly men dominated field, we are likely to have similar experiences and behavior (yes I love chocolate and the lab is my universe :)).
Check the website: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php
February 26, 2012
This is the fourth compilation of the online comic strip, Piled Higher and Deeper (“a grad student comic strip”). PHD is one of the best online time sinks. If you’ve ever been in academia or in grad school, particularly if you’ve ever been in a doctorate program, this will all sound all too familiar. This time, you get to laugh about it.
May 27, 2010
Another great collection of the PhD webcomic, you really start to see more of a shift in this book from life as a graduate student (which never goes away) to broader issues of science policy and academia. As always, a must read for those for whom (or considering) academia is a life.
September 6, 2014
Although I opted out of the PhD route and left the warm cocoon of academia for the even warmer embrace of the job market (cue a pack of hyenas laughing their asses off), I still love this comic to bits.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews