Let’s all be honest: When Ninja Courses fails to help us decide among professors, we revert to the time-honored tradition of looking at the length of their Wikipedia pages. All it takes is one committed fanboy to catalog a professor’s life’s work — but really, what else could we turn to? The Wikipedia page has never let us down on an essay in the past, unless, of course, you actually cited it. Then again, if you are the type of person to cite Wikipedia, you probably weren’t going to do well anyway. So without further ado, we at the Clog have compiled a list of some of UC Berkeley’s professors with the most in-depth Wikipedia pages.
Michael Pollan
A professor of journalism and prominent member of the bald community, Pollan is the author of numerous books, including most famously “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” But honestly, who cares? Now to the meaty stuff:
Wikipedia word count: 1,751
Pictures: 4
Personal Life section: no
Early Years section: yes
Alexei Filippenko
A professor of astrophysics and firm practitioner of Hawaiian shirt Friday, Filippenko is one of the most cited astrophysicists and can be seen on the History Channel. He also won a Robin Williams look-alike contest in his younger days. But can the Wikipedia page match the mystique?
Wikipedia word count: 795
Pictures: 1
Personal Life section: yes
Early Years section: no
Robert Reich
Few professors show up on more story feeds on Snapchat than Reich does, a testament to his captivating gaze. Reich works in the campus’s Goldman School of Public Policy and, interestingly enough, actually lives at the top of the Campanile, watching over the humble student body as its protector. But what does Wikipedia think?
Wikipedia word count: 2,005
Pictures: 3
Personal Life section: no
Early Years section: yes
John Yoo
Made famous by his legal work in the Bush administration, law professor Yoo is a man of many talents and even more hidden ones. As revealed in his Daily Show interview with Jon Stewart, he once swept former president George W. Bush in a three-game series of Connect Four. Now, to the count:
Wikipedia word count: 3,623
Pictures: 1
Personal Life section: yes
Early Years section: yes
Emmanuel Saez
A professor of economics and frequent stock-photo model, Saez is most recently in the news for his work on economic inequality with another French economics professors, Thomas Piketty. But how does this translate to Wikipedia?
Wikipedia word count: 674
Pictures: 1
Personal Life section: yes
Early Years section: no
Image Source: Ragesoss, Raphael Perrino via Wikimedia
