20 years ago

Bookselling in this country is in the middle of a revolution. More large, good, bookshops have opened in the last two years than in the previous 40 ... (Yet) computer systems for providing bibliographic information, for making sure that books are available when they should be and for obtaining books quickly are still a thing of the future. (Tim Coates, managing director of booksellers Sherratt & Hughes)

Despite restrictions imposed by several major research universities on the admission of foreign graduate students, the percentage ... gaining doctorates in the US continues to rise. According to a report from the National Science Foundation, it went up in 1987 for the 25th consecutive year. The situation is causing concern at the Pentagon, where officials are worried that there will soon be insufficient red-blooded Americans with the brains and education to develop new weapons of mass destruction ... With jobs available at starting salaries of more than $30,000 (US students) seem disinclined to live for five years on a graduate student's stipend of $10,000.