I was browsing the UMI/ProQuest website and stumbled on a list of best-selling dissertations in 1996. One of the dissertations in the list (number 4 on the list) was written by a Nova alumnus. UMI best-selling dissertations Ike, Ph.D. (Computer Information Systems), Nova Southeastern University.
Of special note is #7 on the list (tied). It is of note because it is a lowly Masters thesis. It is also of note because it is from John F. Kennedy University, an "accredited school with a non-traditional residential program."* Also of note is the author, Christian deQuincey, a rather famous chap in the area of "spirituality."** Jack*** * Bears Guide, 14th edition ** One of the very few people ever to best Ken Wilber in a debate. *** I'm working on my Lit. Review. Can you tell? I know, I know, it's not the Harvard Method but, what the heck, a guy can relax sometime, can't he?
Also on the list is one from Golden Gate University, a mostly unknown school. I live 3 hours from it and I would guess that many folks around here have never heard of it. Tom Nixon
Not all popular dissertations would appear on the UMI list. For example, Women Who Run with the Wolves--a #1 NY Times bestseller, was Clarissa Pinkola Estes' doctoral dissertation at Union Institute. --John Bear (My dissertation, somewhat edited, sold fairly well as the trade paperback Send This Jerk the Bedbug Letter: how corporations, politicians, and the media deal with consumer complaints)
Dr. Bear, Was your dissertation edited by your publisher or did your lawyer advise you to use politically correct language in order to prevent law suits (action taken against you by the government)? (The federal government cannot tolerate the truth.
Interesting side note, the JFKU Law School and the GGU Contra Costa branch are currently 2 blocks apart in Walnut Creek, CA.
What makes a best-selling dissertation? Is it the quality of the work? It is so original that everbody reads it -- there's no other good source to cite. Is it the timeliness of the topic? It's hot and everybody's interested, even if the quality of the work is not particularly outstanding. Is it the name of the school? It's Ivy League so researchers will go there first in their search for data. Hope these questions make sense. Roscoe
Dr. Bear, Love that title. Think I can find it in one of the used book services? I think I'll try. Roscoe
I'm very fond of the story of which my title is the punch line. True story, reported in Look Magazine in the 1950s. Man was riding the Super Chief train from Chicago to LA, in a drawing room. First night out, he turned back the covers and the sheet was swarming with bedbugs. He fired off an angry letter to the Santa Fe railroad, and got a reply by return mail from the president. He was assured that this had never happened before in the hundred year history of the railroad; that they took the entire train into the shop and disinfected it; that staff was being instructed on new procedures, etc. etc. By mistake, in the same envelope with this letter, the president's secretary included the note that she got from her boss. It read, of course, "Send this jerk the bedbug letter." Two more things. Thing one: my favorite used book site, www.bookfinder.com, found a good many of them, as low as (gasp) 75 cents. Thing two: America's most relentless complainer, the man who has been driving Starbucks nuts for 10 years or more (see his site, www.starbucked.com), says he is about to into the publishing of books on complaining (I tell his story in 'Bedbug'), and will be bringing this book back to life.
