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chez_abaa's review against another edition
5.0
Sharp, brilliant and a great guide to students facing THE THESIS period. Adored it!
perco_tempo's review against another edition
2.0
This book was not as helpful as the first 50 pages seemed. There probably is a way of reinventing the bibliography card thing on laptops, but I have also seen someone doing a bibliography on a Tumblr blog so I think it is more of a whatever floats your boat type of thing.
Also there is a crazy scholastic emphasis on reading originals and stuff like that, I can understand some of that but it just makes it harder for books out of print and stuff like that. It does feel a lot like a book written by the bourgeois reality that academic living was, and as much as I would like for academic work to be done with more time and ease as it was done in the past it seems like in the past people just wanted time in some aspects (I do take in consideration that internet and computers have made everything much faster)
In the end I guess writing theses is a personal question and a type of routine building that you will only get the hang of it by doing it.
Also there is a crazy scholastic emphasis on reading originals and stuff like that, I can understand some of that but it just makes it harder for books out of print and stuff like that. It does feel a lot like a book written by the bourgeois reality that academic living was, and as much as I would like for academic work to be done with more time and ease as it was done in the past it seems like in the past people just wanted time in some aspects (I do take in consideration that internet and computers have made everything much faster)
In the end I guess writing theses is a personal question and a type of routine building that you will only get the hang of it by doing it.
kontramundum's review against another edition
4.0
First, a confession. I have written 3 dissertations/theses in my student life and they were all admittedly rather poor.
The first was for the IB Diploma Extended Essay where I made a terrible attempt to analyse Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day". The second was for an undergraduate dissertation statistically comparing issues faced by two different groups in a survey on a particular industry in Malaysia. This was purely an exercise at ticking the box in order to graduate. Finally, for my masters dissertation, I had the foolish idea of examining a particular aspect of an industry where data would be near impossible to find. In the end, I surrendered and wrote a ho-hum dissertation using data that was conveniently available.
Perhaps my academic performance would have been more stellar had I read Umberto Eco's book "How to Write a Thesis" when I was a student. If you are actually writing a thesis or thinking of it, this book is for you. Even if you only need to occasionally research as part of your job, this book offers interesting advice.
The book provides valuable insight into the research process, even if it was written in Italian in the 1970s. However, some advice and examples may seem quaint in this digital age, e.g. note taking using index cards, typing tips, pre-Google information searching.
Here are some random verbatim gems that I highlighted:
1. The more you narrow the field, the better and more safely you will work.
2. Work on a contemporary author as if he were ancient, and an ancient one as if he were contemporary.
3. You must consider that the librarian (if not overworked or neurotic) is happy when he can demonstrate two things: the quality of his memory and erudition and the richness of his library, especially if it is small. The more isolated and disregarded the library, the more the librarian is consumed with sorrow for its underestimation. A person who asks for help makes the librarian happy.
4. What will distinguish the first from the final draft of your introduction? The fact that in the latter you will promise much less than you did in the former, and you will be much more cautious.
5. You are not Proust.
5. You are not e.e. cummings [...] you are not an avant-garde poet. Not even if your thesis is on avant-garde poetry. If you write a thesis on Caravaggio, are you then a painter?
6. If your tie is crooked, you straighten it, and even a hippie does not like to have pigeon droppings on his shoulder.
7. I would like to conclude with two observations. First, writing a thesis should be fun. Second, writing a thesis is like cooking a pig: nothing goes to waste.
The examples above demonstrate Eco's wit that prevents this book from being a boring instruction manual. Unfortunately, a few reviews here on Goodreads seem to have misunderstood his tongue-in-cheek humour and presumed he was something he was not.
Definitely recommended if you need to produce a thesis. It might just save you some misery down the road.
The first was for the IB Diploma Extended Essay where I made a terrible attempt to analyse Kazuo Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day". The second was for an undergraduate dissertation statistically comparing issues faced by two different groups in a survey on a particular industry in Malaysia. This was purely an exercise at ticking the box in order to graduate. Finally, for my masters dissertation, I had the foolish idea of examining a particular aspect of an industry where data would be near impossible to find. In the end, I surrendered and wrote a ho-hum dissertation using data that was conveniently available.
Perhaps my academic performance would have been more stellar had I read Umberto Eco's book "How to Write a Thesis" when I was a student. If you are actually writing a thesis or thinking of it, this book is for you. Even if you only need to occasionally research as part of your job, this book offers interesting advice.
The book provides valuable insight into the research process, even if it was written in Italian in the 1970s. However, some advice and examples may seem quaint in this digital age, e.g. note taking using index cards, typing tips, pre-Google information searching.
Here are some random verbatim gems that I highlighted:
1. The more you narrow the field, the better and more safely you will work.
2. Work on a contemporary author as if he were ancient, and an ancient one as if he were contemporary.
3. You must consider that the librarian (if not overworked or neurotic) is happy when he can demonstrate two things: the quality of his memory and erudition and the richness of his library, especially if it is small. The more isolated and disregarded the library, the more the librarian is consumed with sorrow for its underestimation. A person who asks for help makes the librarian happy.
4. What will distinguish the first from the final draft of your introduction? The fact that in the latter you will promise much less than you did in the former, and you will be much more cautious.
5. You are not Proust.
5. You are not e.e. cummings [...] you are not an avant-garde poet. Not even if your thesis is on avant-garde poetry. If you write a thesis on Caravaggio, are you then a painter?
6. If your tie is crooked, you straighten it, and even a hippie does not like to have pigeon droppings on his shoulder.
7. I would like to conclude with two observations. First, writing a thesis should be fun. Second, writing a thesis is like cooking a pig: nothing goes to waste.
The examples above demonstrate Eco's wit that prevents this book from being a boring instruction manual. Unfortunately, a few reviews here on Goodreads seem to have misunderstood his tongue-in-cheek humour and presumed he was something he was not.
Definitely recommended if you need to produce a thesis. It might just save you some misery down the road.
nomnomdeplume's review against another edition
Umberto Eco has a magical way of writing enjoyable material even on dry subjects - such as how to research an academic paper. His approach to the endeavor is romantic and inspiring. Although some of his instructions are outdated as this book with written in the 70s well before the internet and personal computers, the methodology behind his note-taking and organization strategies are still applicable for digital research. This book was both informative and compelling.
adityam's review against another edition
4.0
The book covers various aspects about the process of writing, however still sounds way more academic.
gijs's review against another edition
4.0
This was so much fun to read; witty, encouraging, ironical; Eco advises wisely; from maintaining a healthy and sustainable outlook on your project right down to intensely practical nuts-and-bolts pointers.