My advisor asked me to review a manuscript written by a Big Name in our field. A Big Big Name, even -- the King or perhaps the Emperor of this particular domain. I was intimidated by the prospect. What do I, a lowly lecturer whose PhD is only 2 years old, have to say to the Emperor?
Quite a lot, it turns out. Almost a thousand words, and I'm not done yet. It's encouraging to see that even for the Emperor, a pre-review manuscript is pretty different from a post-review publication -- it inspires confidence in the peer review process and hope that I'll be able to get my own work out there one of these days.
The Emperor and I have different interests, and that shows up clearly in the differences between the manuscript I'm reading and the manuscript I'd like to see. I have no idea whether he will say, imperiously,
"But the main thing is [my interest]!" Whatever happens, it's been unexpectedly fun to go through the paper, looking for ways to make it better and to answer the big questions. It also makes me the teeniest bit gleeful to say, "Get back to work, your imperial majesty!"
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