Dear Academia Obscura supporters!
Wow! Just under 3 weeks in and we are at almost 40% funded! This is a great start - thank you so much for supporting the book and for pledging. The big news is that yesterday the lovely folk at Scrivener pledged for the ‘Tenure’ level, contributing a whopping £2,000! I absolutely love the Scrivener software and am thrilled that they will be the frontispiece in the book.
A quick request: Please pass on the book pitch to all your friends and colleagues - nothing is more powerful that a personal recommendation!
For some Friday fun, I have put together a blooper reel from the filming of the pitch video, in which I discuss chickens and penguins, and forget my own name. You can see all that here: http://www.academiaobscura.com/the-blooper-reel/
I’ve also been busy with the blog, so here are some recent morsels of academic obscurity that you might enjoy:
- Possibly the worst academic ‘journal’ ever. Hilarious!: http://www.academiaobscura.com/is-this-the-worst-academic-journal-ever/
- #AcademicNurseryRhymes, which really exploded on Twitter: http://www.academiaobscura.com/academic-nursery-rhymes/
- 8 common misconceptions, disproved by science (a totally tongue-in-cheek article where the comments section nonetheless got taken over by a big debate over homeopathy. Ah, the internet): http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/jun/25/irrational-beliefs-eight-myths-that-are-disproved-by-science
I have got some great content lined up for the blog in the coming weeks, including interviews with Ivan Oranosky, co-founder of the fantastic Retraction Watch, and Eric Janowski, the creator of the twitter sensation Nein Quarterly. I've also got articles to write for Times Higher Education and the Guardian Higher Education Network - I will keep you posted.
Once again, thank you so much!
Glen