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oh, and: hollywood's take on academic publishing
Something that is guaranteed to make any academic convulse with laughter: the way Hollywood (usually) portrays professors who publish. A case in point:
The Mirror Has Two Faces. This is a really terrible movie. It's also unintentionally funny in many places. For example, a mathematician has a new book coming out. There is a release party with lots of food. The book is held up to the adoring crowd. It is a thick book with a dust cover, and there's a full color photo of the mathematician author on the back.
Problems:
1. Mathematicians mostly publish articles, and rarely whole books.
2. They are concise creatures. My husband's PhD thesis was 35 pages long, mostly equations.
3. I've never seen a dust cover on an academic treatise.
4. On the rare occasion you see any kind of dust cover on an academic book, you will not find a photo of the author. No photo at all, and certainly not a full color glamor shot on the back.
5. Book release party? Snort.
6. Food presented elegantly on linen covered tables at an academic book release party? Giggle.
I read somewhere that Barbra Streisand has always regretted not going to college and made this movie to make up for that lack. So really, this movie is her fantasy about college. The real thing would be a disappointment to her.
As an antidote to the awful Two Faced Mirror, try Wonder Boys. Great movie by people who know something about academics, universities, writers and neurosis.
September 28, 2005 06:28 AM
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