Research advice from me
- Here (http://blizzard.cs.uwaterloo.ca/keshav/home/Papers/data/07/paper-reading.pdf) is a short paper I wrote on how to read a research paper.
Research advice from others
- Micheal Nielsen has an excellent essay (http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/?p=120) on the "Principles of Effective Research".
- William Stallings, a prolific author of widely-used textbooks in OS and networking has an excellent set of student resources (http://williamstallings.com/StudentSupport.html)
- A tongue-in-cheek guide to reviewing papers (http://www.sigmod.org/sigmod/record/issues/0812/p100.open.cormode.pdf) by Graham Cormode.
- Here (http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~brecht/thesis-hints.html) is a nice description by my colleague Tim Brecht (http://www.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~brecht/) on writing a thesis.
- Simon Peyton Jones (http://research.microsoft.com/%7Esimonpj/) has an excellent Research Skills (http://research.microsoft.com/%7Esimonpj/papers/giving-a-talk/giving-a-talk.htm) site that includes sections on how to give good research talks, how to write papers, as well as pointers to some other excellent advice, including a long article on mathematical writing by Don Knuth (http://tex.loria.fr/typographie/mathwriting.pdf).
- Here (http://natureerratum.typepad.com/nature_erratum/2005/11/brains_not_as_v.html) is a brilliant article on what is important when doing research by Nobel Laureate John C. Polanyi (http://www.utoronto.ca/jpolanyi/). An excerpt: "Scientists do not go to meetings to applaud one another's ideas, but to tear them apart."
- Here (http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html) is a speech by Richard Hamming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hamming) on his perspective on research. It's well worth reading. An excerpt: "Great scientists tolerate ambiguity very well. They believe the theory enough to go ahead; they doubt it enough to notice the errors and faults so they can step forward and create the new replacement theory. If you believe too much you'll never notice the flaws; if you doubt too much you won't get started. It requires a lovely balance."
- In memory of John Backus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Backus), a quote from him: "You need the willingness to fail all the time. You have to generate many ideas and then you have to work very hard only to discover that they don't work. And you keep doing that over and over until you find one that does work."
Do you really want to do a Ph.D. ?
- Mihir Bellare (http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/~mihir/) at UC San Diego has some excellent advice (http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/mihir/phd.html) (though not as colorful).
- So does Ron Azuma (http://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/hitch4.html)
- And here is a collection of really good advice from Daniel Lemire (http://www.daniel-lemire.com/blog/advice-for-graduate-students/).
Advice on other matters
- So, you want to do a startup? Read this (http://rondam.blogspot.com/2006/10/top-ten-geek-business-myths.html) first!
- Here is some advice on "How to hold a meeting" that I wrote when I was at my company. The immediate upshot of this was that I got dis-invited from most meetings. That was terrific.
- Participating in a meeting that doesn't seem to be going anywhere? Well, at least you won't be asleep if you are playing Bingo (http://bullshitbingo.net/cards/)!
Parables
Inspired by the class I took with Prof. David Patterson (http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pattrsn/) in 1987, I always teach my classes in 20-minute chunks, with breaks in between. For the last several years, I have been doing a roll-call in the first break, which helps me learn students' names, and in the second break, I either juggle or tell a story. Many students tell me that they remember the stories better than the technical material, and asked me to put them on my site. So, here are some of the parables. I plan to update this list each time I teach during the Spring 2009 term.
Life advice
Here is some advice on life and living that I have collected
over the years. As you read, remember that Swami Vivekanada (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Vivekananda_a_Biography) said (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_1/Raja-Yoga/Introductory),
"If you want to become an astronomer and sit down and cry "Astronomy! Astronomy!" it will never come to you.".
Or as my favorite
Sanskrit aphorism (http://www.dharmakshetra.com/sages/Saints/mahamuni%20parasara.html)
goes "Deeds are accomplished by effort alone. Deer do not enter the mouth of the sleeping lion".
So, just reading these rules will not help you.
You have to live them. That is the hard part.
The foundation of corporate culture
I spent a long time thinking about how one should run a company.
What should its culture be based on?
I managed to distill my thoughts into three words:
I think these are pretty good rules for dealing with anyone.
I try to live it in my personal and professional life.
The only things you need to know in life
From my Tai Chi instructor, Martin Lee (http://www.taichiculturalcenter.com/whatsnew.htm) (who was also a Professor of Physics at Stanford) I learned that you only need to know four things:
- Relax
- Breathe
- Feel the Earth
- Do nothing extra
I read an article about a very successful life coach (I forget his name) who taught his clients three lessons:
- Life is good
- Be happy now
- Let it go
My cousin, Shyam Chari, sent me the following advice that he gives young people:
- Be fearless in your conviction
- Have compassion towards the less fortunate
- Give selfless service to those in need
What to do when you don't know anything
In research, and in life, you often are lost. Here are three rules I have found useful in doing anything new:
- Start simple
- Learn as you go
- Prepare to change
Dr. Abdul Kalam's advice
During his visit to the University of Waterloo, Dr. Abdul Kalam, former President of India, ended his talk by asking the audience to repeat after him:
- Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is harmony in the nation. When there is harmony in the nation, there is peace in the world.
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