Though the Knopfs and Strauss had little use for a revised doctoral dissertation — that, they believed, was the reason God created university presses — they understood that cultivating fresh talent was a process in which doors must remain open, and that the next manuscript might well be the charm.
Mr Metcalfe's need to revise his dissertation proved a boon for what became Ethernet because, in doing so, he found AlohaNet, a wireless network in Hawaii, which had an interesting approach to sending data.
Despite having these feelings in my mid-30s, when my kids were 8, 5 and 3, I was thriving professionally: I had recently completed my Ph.D. in geography, had just finished co-teaching a semester at M.I.T. as a lecturer and was revising my dissertation on spec for a respected university press.
Jeffrey and Sax argued over Stebbins's dissertation, and the thesis was revised numerous times to accommodate their differing views.
On other occasions, he made dinner while she revised, and revised again, her dissertation.
After publishing "The American Science of Politics" (1958), a revised version of his doctoral dissertation, Sir Bernard made his mark with "In Defense of Politics" (1962), a spirited polemic in favor of politics as a worthy pursuit.
Butler's first book, Subjects of Desire: Hegelian Reflections in Twentieth-Century France (1987), a revised version of her doctoral dissertation, was a discussion of the concept of desire as it figures in G.W.F.
Why, when most of our graduate students are going to work as teachers, do we make them spend years grinding out massive, specialized dissertations, which, when revised and published, may reach a readership that numbers in the high two figures?
Despite this clear explanation of motive and intention, a lot of fogginess remains in the arguments from all sides, beginning with the central question: Do university presses really care if a dissertation is available when they are publishing a thoroughly revised work years later?
