I just finished reading 'How to Get a PhD' (Phillips & Pugh), and I've gotta say, I was really disappointed! I really don't feel the text engages with the true, every day issues faced by PhD students. Can anyone suggest a good text? I'm looking for something that I can use as a reference point when I hit the ebbs, so something humorous would go down well.

I have that book too and thought the same, it's not very inspiring! I got another one at the same time which is much better - "The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research" by Rugg and Petre.

Huh, I'm like a one-woman library today

Cheers Rosy! I'll be looking out for that one. I've moved on to 'Getting your PhD'(2007), which is hopefully more inspiring than the one I just finished. I find that alot of the humorous material written about PhD life is quite comforting, and strangely motivating! I'd also like to refer the books to those close to me, as sometimes I don't think they have a clue as to what being a researcher entails. I think they look at us like lazy buggers luxuriating in our reading. If only they knew!

Wasn't there a website devoted to PhD comics, depicting PhD life, that someone posted a few weeks or so back? I had a look through it and it was pretty funny--as well as seemed very accurate.

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20080201.html

Not itself about PhDs, but it does sort of describe the experience...!

Methinks this was the list you were talking about Olivia... it's part of (or affiliated somehow with) this site...

http://www.findaphd.com/students/life.asp

I love the "I did a PhD and did not go mad" one... and the link is broken so I just googled it... so here is a working link!

http://public.randomnotes.org/richard/PhDtalk.html

Ah yes, Mr. Butterworth--read that a while back and it's the best thing going for PhD students as far as I'm concerned, brilliant! Cheers for the Dilbert ref olivia, anything that keeps me laughing gets a thumbs up!

That is so funny about how to survive the Phd--I love the remark about the lack of heating in the work space and the wasp nest for company!

I combat isolation by leaving my office door ajar ( I am lucky to inhabit my own space, albeit draped around the piles of the real owner of the office--carefully moving NOTHING!). This means I often become the Information Point or Help Desk on any number of requests. I DO try to be of some help, while usually having to disclaim any real ability to help--I try at least to point people to the main building office where "real" people might be able to help.

I am begged for assignment extensions, to produce tardy tutors out of the thin air, to locate strange room numbers, and so forth. Yesterday as I ran wild eyed out of the building to find a black jacket, a poor soul stopped me and asked for some strange address. He was looking for XYZ College, and I recognised the main road he wanted, but had no idea how to tell him to get there. I myself took him to the main office and they were able to get him sorted! I usually don't know enough to help people...but it is an amusing break in the day.

and...because it is raining again and I don't want to get wet, I just did a Meyers Briggs profiler..for fun! ENFP==which is Extroverted Intuititve Feeling Perceiver--its says "very expressed extravert, distinctly impressed intuitive, moderately expressed feeling, slightly expressed perceiving..."
http://typelogic.com/enfp.html
another ENFP descriptor!

'Your PhD Companion' by Dr Stephen Marshall and Dr Nick Green is fab. It's warm, funny and full of little anecdotes about famous PhD'ers. And it's very reasonably priced on Amazon compared to most of the PhD books.

Have you seen this?

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?n=973

I have it emailed to me - very amusing and worth going through the archives.