Tom Head

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by George Brown, Jan 9, 2006.

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  1. George Brown

    George Brown Active Member

    Anybody heard from Tom lately? By my calculations he should be nearing the completion of his PhD from Edith Cowan University. Anybody got some updates?

    Cheers,

    George
     
  2. John Bear

    John Bear Senior Member

    I expressed concern, not having heard from him for quite a few months. He's doing OK, as of a week or so ago.

    (Not my place to pass on stuff from private emails.)
     
  3. George Brown

    George Brown Active Member

    Thanks John. It would be good to know how he is fairing in his research.
     
  4. tcnixon

    tcnixon Active Member

    Hi George,

    Check your email.



    Tom Nixon
     
  5. blahetka

    blahetka New Member

    He's ALIVE!
     
  6. Tom Head

    Tom Head New Member

    Hi, folks! Thanks for thinking of me. It's been a little while, hasn't it?

    George, sir, I'd love to hear what you're up to these days. Please email me privately. For that matter, that offer's good for everybody.

    As far as the Ph.D. goes, I'm still enrolled, but finding myself a genuine part-time reentry student for the first time in my life. I'm currently finishing up book #22, with a #23, #24, and #25 waiting for me as soon as I'm done. I expect I'll be done with my thesis sometime in 2007, but I'm afraid my days as a prodigy are over--and at 27, I'm outgrowing that particular T-shirt anyway. (My nephew graduated from medical school at age 23, though, and I'm more than happy to be a prodigy by proxy.) I'm finding myself writing, doing volunteer work, etc. so much that I'm actually having to struggle to keep up the workload. Complicated by the fact that I am the first person, ever, period, to write a comprehensive study of Max Kadushin's philosophy from a non-rabbinic perspective. It's a challenging topic, but I love it, and some scholars in the field of Jewish studies have become aware of my work and are very interested in watching what I do with it, in one case with potential interest from a university press. So I'm working very hard, but coming along. My supervisors are wonderful, and know so damned incredibly much about philosophy and religion that I am constantly learning new things from our conversations.

    I can no longer realistically claim to be up to date on the state of distance education. My last book on the subject was published four and a half years ago, and I've done very little work in this area since. I continue to advocate for nontraditional education in my day-to-day life, helping people find degree programs and whatnot, and making sure that folks always know what their options are. And I am completely confident in the work that Mariah Bear and Thomas Nixon are doing to carry on the legacy of the series. Tom, in particular, is showing signs of being a real, bona fide education writer, and I think that in ten years he will almost be on par with John in this field. I say almost because nobody will ever be on par with John in this field. That's one of the benefits of being the first. Presidents will always idealize George Washington, and distance learning authors, if they're wise, will pay just as much attention to the example provided by John Bear.

    I understand there's been some kind of controversy here lately, but I don't know many of the details and it sounds like I'm better off that way. Suffice to say that I am not angry at or disappointed with anyone, and I bear no grudges. In fact, I can't think of any serious grudges from my AED days that haven't softened--with the exception of my less than charitable feellings towards a certain anonymous person who dedicated countless hours to saying unkind things about a friend of mine some years back, and has never had the courage to put his own name out there and stand by his words.

    So anyway, I'm not angry at the Degreeinfo administrators--and my absence has not, I hope, been interpreted as any kind of attempt to distance myself from them. At the same time, I completely understand why folks would not want to have their names associated with certain industries, even indirectly, and I respect that. I see no villains on this board.

    Enough about that. My writing career is going marvelously, as you can probably tell by the fact that my academic career has slowed down. My original goal was to collect 11 degrees, like my resumé hero Dennis Huber, but my latest addiction is books. The one I'm finishing now is Crime and Punishment in America for Facts on File, which will be published later this year. Two books of mine have also just been published: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to the Bible (published by Que, an imprint of the infamous Pearson), and Conversations with Carl Sagan (published by the University Press of Mississippi).

    You can read about both of them, and keep track of my life in general, by visiting here. Please always feel free to post; we especially need more thoughtful conservatives:
    http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/head.php

    That page forwards automatically from http://www.tomhead.net which is, and should always be, the best place to find me.

    Because I'm no longer involved much in the AED/Degreeinfo world, I don't know if I'll see the responses to my post on this forum. But please know that I wish all of you the very best in your lives, academic and otherwise, and that there is always a place in my inbox for my old AED cronies. (Sometimes I'm a little slow in responding, but don't be afraid to nag me.)

    Be good to yourselves!



    Cheers,

    Tom Head
    http://www.tomhead.net
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 13, 2006
  7. Charles

    Charles New Member

    Tom,

    Great to hear from you. I'm glad everything is going well for you.
     
  8. JLV

    JLV Active Member

    Tom, you´re really prolific. Twenty-two books at age 27 is really espectacular. Keep it up! A joke comes to mind though.

    Two old friends meet on the street after a long time. One says:

    - I recorded my new CD a few weeks ago.
    - Yeah, I know, I already bought it .....
    - Oh, so it was you.......

    Nah, just joking. I took a look at your edition of Conversations with Carl Sagan and looks pretty intereting (I didn´t even know he was an atheist). If I can buy it in Holland, I´ll purchase it. Best wishes.
     

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