Hacks and Hints

Recently, Cinzia Dubois, who vlogs as The Lady of the Library, posted a video that offered lots of tips for folks who would become independent scholars. In particular, the invariably insightful Miss Dubois provided her viewers with ways to save money on academic books, explained the art of asking favors of established scholars, and, to no one’s surprise, reminded us of the marvelous resources available at many libraries.

The following list complements those recommendations.

First Find the Thesis

When faced with an academic book that will cost you more than a week’s worth of groceries, look for a copy of the author’s doctoral thesis. Drachmas to donuts, as the Muses say, the thesis will provide you with much of what you seek, if not more.

If, for example, you wish to own, in a proper cloth binding, a copy of Science, Strategy and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd, the good people at Routledge will charge you 199.99 Yankee dollars. If, however, you visit the website of the University of Leiden, you can download, gratis, a PDF of the thesis that preceded it. (Gratis, by the way, is the word the ancient Romans used when they wished to explain that something cost squat, nada, naught, zip, zilch, or bubkes.)

How would you know to visit that particular university? All you need to do is type the name of the author (in this case, Frans Osinga) along with the words ‘doctoral thesis’ or ‘doctoral dissertation’ into your friendly neighborhood search engine.

(This trick works best with books written in the last two decades or so. Older theses hide in cave in Michigan that can only be opened by crossing the palm of the troll who guards it with copies amounts of silver.)

Read Forward

Recent scholarship builds, or, at the very least, should build, upon earlier attempts to make sense of the subject at hand. Thus, if you wish to become the world’s expert on a particular person, place, or phenomenon, begin your journey with the oldest writings that describe the who, where, or what in question.

Thanks to services like Hathi, Gallica, the Internet Archive, the Library of Congress, and Münchener Digitalizierungs Zentrum, the likes of you and me can download, for free, PDF copies of works that have passed into the public domain.

If your experience accords with mine, you will find older works to be more accessible, enjoyable, and thorough, as well as less parochial, self-important, and annoying as their latter day successors. At the very least, you will find them easier on your pocketbook.

Academia.edu

Scholars often upload copies of their papers, book chapters, and the like to Academia.edu. So, before putting on your wellies and making that trek to the library, or shelling out your hard-earned happy cabbage for a subscription of some sort, spend a few minutes on the site where many academics post copies of their papers. (When doing so, decline the attempts to sell you premium services. If your needs resemble mine, the ‘for free’ level of service will give you everything that you need.

Personal Websites

Scholars often post copies of their papers, book chapters, and, at times, complete books, to their personal websites. (My own website also offers two blogs, two collections of podcast reviews, companions to the books I have written, and a converted discussion forum where I hang PDF copies of many of the items mentioned in my footnotes.)

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