Customer Reviews

Piled Higher and Deeper: A Graduate Student Comic Strip Collection

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Grad students! Are you working too hard? This comic strip collection can help.

"Piled Higher and Deeper" ("PhD") is the first collection of strips of the legendary webcomic of the same name, written (and published) by Jorge Cham of Stanford University. This volume contains comics from roughly 1997 - 2002, including classics such as

--The Grad Student Documentary ("Having feasted, the grad student enters a lethargic state called "researching", in anticipation of the next free meal.")

--What is... the Thesis ("Is it so hard to believe? That grad school isn't real?")

--Post-Bachelor's Disorder ("Do you experience frequent headaches trying to count how many years you've been in school?")

--The High School Renunion ("Um... well... I... I'm still in school...")

and many others. From the first crudely drawn sketches of cramped classrooms and quals to the later, well-drawn strips of research and conferences, "PhD" never fails to entertain. Some of the humor may be dark and depressing, but that just makes it more realistic, and all the more potent.

If you don't believe that a grad student comic strip could possibly be so good, feel free to check out the strip's website, [...], where all of these strips are available for free. (But be warned - reading the entire archive could be hazardous to your research, and once you start, it's hard to stop...) Why buy the book when all its content is available free online? For one thing, to thank Jorge for all the hours of procrastination that he has so kindly provided. For another, to have access to the comics even when you're away from your compu... ok, never mind. The first reason is more than good enough by itself.

Even though "PhD" focuses on engineering, grad students in all fields should find it equally entertaining. And of course, grad students are not the only people who can appreciate this volume - former grad students and future grad students will almost certainly enjoy it as well. All grad students past, present and future should purchase this first "Piled Higher and Deeper" collection (or better yet, have it purchased for them) without delay.

I especially suggest this book to people thinking about taking the PhD route. Read it before making a decision. Twice. Then, if you decide to go for it anyways, don't come crying to me when you finally realize that the thing you call your daily life is actually the raw material for one of the funniest comic strips around. And, believe me when I say Jorge is a funny guy but he doesn't really exaggerate that much, which makes the whole book more funny ( and kinda sad, too ). In any case, this is the second funniest thing I have read during the last couple of years. So, get it!

Oh, curious about the funniest thing? My lame attempts at writing drafts for my thesis introduction, of course, what else?

This is a unique collection of hilarious comic strips about graduate school life drawn by Jorge Cham, a genuine PhD student at Stanford University. Anyone who has ever been or known a graduate student struggling towards the completion of his or her thesis will recognize and appreciate the characters and scenarios herein. And although there are a number of inside jokes, and knowing the real-life inspirations for some of the characters certainly added to my personal enjoyment, most of the strips reflect the universal absurdities of the grad school experience rather than being specific to Stanford students. Highly recommended!

You think you have unique problems in grad school. Then I read PhD comics and realized that ALL grad students have the same problems. Even though you can go for DAYS not talking to another human (professors don't count!), Cham describes our lives accurately! :) It's a perfect gift!

I was a doctoral student at Stanford at the same time as Jorge, and have been reading the strip since it first appeared in the student paper. From virtually the first day it ran, it has always demonstrated remarkable insight into the highs and lows of the experience. A small part of the humor is Stanford-specific, and so won't make much sense to people from other schools, but the vast majority is remarkably universal. The sad thing is that the handful of friends for whom I've bought the book -- as a way to give them a sense of what I was going through, since no amount of verbal explanation really seemed to convey it accurately -- all had pretty much the same reaction: "Geez, why would you put yourself through that? Why would anyone?!?"

Despite that, both books are brillant, and very much worth having.

A truly entertaining portrayal of graduate life. Anybody who's in grad school can find at least one strip (if not whole sections of the book) which fits them to a T. You find yourself laughing at just how true it is, and at the same time thinking it's all too warped to be real. I enjoyed every page!

A word of caution -- this is a very effective procrastination tool and may inspire cynicism (but that's not bad, is it?...)

ok, so it may not be so funny if you haven't done the post graduate life avoidance routine, but if you have, it's so funny it hurts. it's the perfect primer for those considering an advanced degree!

Whew, how I love this comic strips very much !

I've already forget how I came to this homepage. I was - procrastinating - at that time - just surfing the web while suddenly I saw this webpage

phd.stanford.edu

and boy, it makes me laugh aloud. I registered instantly at that time, and I've also read all the previous issue.

For you who haven't read this comics, I'll tell ya abit.

The comics' story circles around a few individuals - graduate students - at Stanford University. Hey, isn't that one of the famous school in America, and in the world. Where Silicon Valley is just a stonethrow away. Where Chelsea Clinton study too. Where some matches of the 1994 World Cup Soccer was held.

Yes, but the story really touches the human side of graduate study. Yes, sometimes he exaggerated too much - but what matters is that he knows the real thing. Grad study is hard - classes and TA-ing in the early years - qualifying exams - research for the thesis.

And you are underpaid. You live in a dorm - a very small room. You work in cubicles. You meet your friends in high school reunion, and finding out that they have already made a success - while you still, yes, stuck in grad school. You fail your horrible, tortorous qualifying exams.
You are doing research - which you yourself are not sure about the outcomes of this research. Your family has a great expectation for you: a PhD would certainly be a cool thing, yet the real answer is not.

Although some of the facts and stories are highly exaggerated, yet I saw a clear reflection of my own experience, and thousands other people's experience - graduate students in all parts of the world. I can laugh at myself now, and that bring a big relief to me.

The characters: a character who in my opinion describes himself (the nerdy boy with a glasses, and later dark hair), Cecilia (who is absolutely smart but hasn't graduated yet - and meet her highschool's first crush in a reunion), Mike (a senior graduate students - only God and Jorge himself
know how long he has been in grad school - even his professor doesn't know), Tajel (a graduate student in Philosophy), and Profesor Smith (the nerdy boy's advisor).

My favorite characters' are Cecilia and Mike.

Now here's my recommendation:

If you are ordinary people: BUY this book so you also can feel what is a graduate student's life like.

If you are an undergrad who doesn't want to go to grad school: BUY this book so you might want to CHANGE your mind.

If you are an undergrad who want to go to grad school: BUY this book so you would THINK again about your decision.

If you are graduate students, professors, post docs: BUY this book so you can see a reflection of all your experience in a more comforting, and leisuring way. I also hope you would get some spirit to get back on track for those who are already frustated.

And if you buy this book, whoever you are: TELL Your friends to buy it too, or at least tell them about the websites !

Finally, kudos for Jorge Cham. He's a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford himself, but his talent in cartooning is great.

I strongly hope he would keep his comic strips alive after he graduated.
But now, he might called himself `Professor' this time.

Kudos for you, Jorge. May the geeks be with you, and you be free from The Thesis !

Being a graduate student myself this book has made me laugh, cringe and laugh again over and over. The portrayal of the ups and downs of student life and academic departement dynamics are spot on! I will recomend this book to everyone doing a degree, having done one and, most importantly, thinking of doing one!

This selection of comics neatly focuses the plight of all grad students - We are not alone. From procrastination to free food to the weekly supervisor meeting this book had me alternatively laughing, crying and saying "that's so me".

I thoroughly recommend this book to and grad student, or indeed those that are blessed to be surrounded by grad students.