So You Want to Be a Professor? : A Handbook for Graduate Students

Rating:
Summary: may be accurate if you are a white male
Review: After getting approximately 10 books on how to be a professor for Christmas, I was least impressed with this one, mainly for two reasons.
1. The author seems to be somewhat clueless when it comes to being female or non-white (or disabled or homosexual etc.) in academia. For example, at one point he says he doesn't understand why questions about marital status or children should be banned from the interview.
2. He contradicts himself many times. In the prologue he claims that academia is a meritocracy (something none of the other books I got seem to believe), but later makes it sound like it isn't. Additionally he claims that there are many institutions where research is not important or necessary (also something none of my other books believe), but in later chapters denies this.

His chapter on how to overcome teaching anxiety looks pretty good, but I would take the rest of what he says with a grain of salt....

Rating:
Summary: Don't be misled by the subtitle
Review: Don't let the subtitle fool you-there's something in here for everyone in academia, whether you've just signed up for grad school, just gotten tenure, or have attained that coveted full professor status. Developed from a course the author taught, the book is full of the same tongue in cheek humor that characterizes Dr. Vesilind's teaching. More than a "how to get the job" manual, this book covers not only "how to excel at the job once you have it" but "why excel at the job once you have it". The final chapter-"The academic career" is a must for those discouraged souls in the postdoctoral trenches-we all started down this road for a reason and it helps to remember why. As a scientist, I found the guide especially helpful, as most guides to academia are written with humanities professors in mind. While this book is applicable to careers in both the sciences and humanities, it doesn't overlook some of the fundamental differences between the fields in how the system "works".