TWEAKED!
I'm totally tweaked out. If that's the phrase. I'm published (again)! This time on my own, this time just a little book review, but ... this time it is a little different. Because I dared, dared to actually critique the book. I actually pointed out several flaws in the author's presentation and reasoning, while also commending the good parts of the book (of which there were many).
But, for some reason, in the MT world, people don't usually properly critique books. There's a lot of ass-kissing and warm-and-fuzzy goodness that goes on, and I'm not sure why it needs to be that way. The field can't grow if we deny having differences of opinion, and it seems to me that those differences are only amplified in this kind of atmosphere. Yet again my university will gain a point for being a "troublemaker" because I didn't glow endlessly about this author's brilliance in this little review. And maybe this is why I didn't publish it for 3 years, I was too nervous to put it out there, but my advisor and his colleagues all said it needed to be out there. So ... I took a deep breath and sent it out. It was accepted no problem (book reviews aren't usually difficult to get accepted), and I've been waiting several months to see it.
Now I'm bracing myself for fallout, backlash, whatever. So far nothing negative has come through the email box yet, but a distant friend did compliment me for it already (before the journal issue had even arrived at my house!). I find this position very unnerving to be in. I'm high on taking the risk, of calling a spade a spade, and yet also scared to death of what this might do for my future in academia. I know a single book review won't ruin my future, but still -- this is a weird, incestuous, political field. We shall see.
In the meantime, I'm tweaked. Ready to wrestle with anyone who has a problem with the damn review.
Come on. I can take you.
But, for some reason, in the MT world, people don't usually properly critique books. There's a lot of ass-kissing and warm-and-fuzzy goodness that goes on, and I'm not sure why it needs to be that way. The field can't grow if we deny having differences of opinion, and it seems to me that those differences are only amplified in this kind of atmosphere. Yet again my university will gain a point for being a "troublemaker" because I didn't glow endlessly about this author's brilliance in this little review. And maybe this is why I didn't publish it for 3 years, I was too nervous to put it out there, but my advisor and his colleagues all said it needed to be out there. So ... I took a deep breath and sent it out. It was accepted no problem (book reviews aren't usually difficult to get accepted), and I've been waiting several months to see it.
Now I'm bracing myself for fallout, backlash, whatever. So far nothing negative has come through the email box yet, but a distant friend did compliment me for it already (before the journal issue had even arrived at my house!). I find this position very unnerving to be in. I'm high on taking the risk, of calling a spade a spade, and yet also scared to death of what this might do for my future in academia. I know a single book review won't ruin my future, but still -- this is a weird, incestuous, political field. We shall see.
In the meantime, I'm tweaked. Ready to wrestle with anyone who has a problem with the damn review.
Come on. I can take you.