Don't Mean to Brag (Anymore)

Some blogposts back, I bragged that my doctoral thesis was still getting attention. An old friend offered congratulations and recounted a similar experience:

In 1991, a legal article I wrote on the arcane subject of natural resource damage actions under federal environmental law was published as the lead article in a prestigious environmental law journal. It was the first legal article published on the topic and was soon quoted and relied upon in numerous other legal articles as well as legal opinions issued by courts. The first time my article was quoted in The Harvard Law Review, I was thrilled. Then it was relied upon in a US Supreme Court opinion and I was over the moon (a blue moon at that). Now I have no idea how long it has been since I even checked, but I am sure much more current articles have supplanted mine as the leading authority. I am old hat now . . .

Well, an ability to keep things in a proper perspective is certainly a fine skill to have and hone and . . . well, I'll . . . uh . . . just stop there . . . I guess . . .