Many students never complete their PhDs because they do not receive support of the right kind, or at the right time. A PhD is a journey, a process, which cannot be imagined when one first embarks on it. Thanks to Phillida Salmon and her group of ten students, new PhD students may now have a better idea of what to expect. The students write candidly and lucidly about their feelings, misgivings and the stresses of fitting in this huge commitment to a life already filled with family obligations and the demands of work. They also describe the solutions they found to practical problems such as storing their research, recording sources and gathering information. Their supervisor brings these accounts together into a coherent overview of all that is entailed in achieving a PhD. In one book, she both challenges the existing patterns of supervision and makes a solid case for more supportive approaches, while at the same time showing us the art of achieving a PhD.