by Pepper White

isbn: 0452268419
subject: Biography, Nonfiction, Academia
finished: 7/5/1998

This is an account of Pepper White's two-year stint as an MIT grad student. Like Beneath the Wheel, it's about the dark side of academia; many people are portrayed as being stressed to the breaking point, and at one point a friend of his commits suicide. Although White earns a masters degree, the book ends as he fails the qualifiers for the PhD program and leaves the institute.

The Idea Factory is unfortunately kind of long on details about mechanical engineering and short on penetrating insights. Still, it's engagingly written and has some fun parts including a chapter about MIT hacks and a cameo by Doc Edgerton. I'm sure I would have gotten more out of this book had I read it several years ago; as it is (after three years of grad school), I was thinking "been there, done that" all the way through.

Oddly enough, while reading this book I went on a long hike with some other Microsoft Research interns; two of them were MIT grad students. While the rest of us were enjoying a day outdoors, they were off by themselves quietly discussing MIT politics, publication strategies, and other academic things. Scary.