That simulator hits home. The discouragement and anguish was real. I finished my Ph.D. in 6 years rather than the usual 4 1/2 because ideas just didn't work ou

That simulator hits home. The discouragement and anguish was real. I finished my Ph.D. in 6 years rather than the usual 4 1/2 because ideas just didn't work out. My topic was much harder than those of my peers. That said, I felt the 2 extra years I spent made me a much more solid researcher in my narrow field, because I spent more time learning and relearning the foundations of my craft. I relate to what Winston Churchill said about being a dunce at school (who later become a incomparable wartime orator distinguished by his use of simple English): "By being so long in the lowest form I gained an immense advantage over the cleverer boys... I got into my bones the essential structure of the ordinary British sentence–which is a noble thing. Naturally I am biased in favor of boys learning English; I would make them all learn English: and then I would let the clever ones learn Latin as an honor, and Greek as a treat."