The book centres on a toxic friendship between two unnamed people, one of whom seems intent on undermining the other. You know the type of thing: when the friend gets a job at a new magazine, her mate says: "How great. Wow. Because I mean, I heard that was being discontinued."

When the friend turns up wearing new clothes, her mate says: "Hey! That's so wacky. It wouldn't suit everyone, but your style has always been a bit different, hasn't it?"

The book - subtitled The Best Friend Who Casually Destroys Your Life - seems to have hit a nerve in dog-eat-dog New York, where professional success is highly prized, and where "friends" are often after your job, your boyfriend and, especially, your apartment. The New Yorker extracted a chapter of the book, and the authors have been congratulated for giving a name to a social phenomenon that almost everybody seems to have experienced.

New York magazine said the The Underminer captured "a classic New York phenomenon". The New York Observer said the book was "the voice of the friend we've all had" and "The writers have done humankind a favour by nailing the bastard."

The authors are two New Yorkers, Mike Albo and Virginia Heffernan, who shared an apartment during the 1990s. At the time, Albo was trying to make it on the comedy circuit, and Heffernan was trying to make a career as a journalist. Both professions are tough to enter and, for years, the duo found themselves coming home at night to vent about so-called friends, one of whom said to Heffernan: "People get hung up on thinness. You're a more typical American."

They gave these friends a name - "the underminers" - and kept track of the things they said (and, it must be said, the things the authors said to other people, which were sometimes just as snide).

Their notes on their friends became material for the book, and the media has picked up the theme. When the New York Post asked readers to email their "underminer" anecdotes, they got a strong response. One girl remembered a friend saying: "This picture of you is so cute. Hey, wait: Aren't you wearing, like, the same thing now as you are here? You are! Same shirt, same skirt ... everything! Even the jacket! Ha!"

Another had a friend who said: "I like your hair. You can really carry off long roots! How often do you have it done?"

Albo has been somewhat stunned by the book's success, but said: "I think living in such a crazy city that has such a focus on careers and success finally drives everyone crazy. In another time and place, we might be beating each other over the head with clubs, but we've become so over-therapied and polite that we attack each other verbally."

But both writers say success is the best revenge on toxic friends. And they feel like they've succeeded in New York. Albo makes his living as a comedian, performing monologues in Los Angeles, London and New York. Heffernan is a television writer for The New York Times.

A television writer, hey? Well, it's probably better than being a real journalist, and having to travel to war zones.

And a comedian? Well, good for Albo. Some people like working late at night for so little money. It's kind of romantic. In a way.

It really does seem as though people I interact with each day have a good habit of doing this - either by way of passive/aggressive behaviour, behind-the-scenes manoeuvring, little white lies, hoarding of lab supplies (guilty - its eat or be eaten people!) or immovable sense of righteousness (I'll stand by my decision to take the side of the latter... ;P ). It’s a common theme in many places; I've spent my Monday evenings laughing and cringing at the workplace happenings in Ricky Gervais' "The Office". Eerily similar to my time at UQ I reckon - well, without lab coats.

The tradition of this sort of thing in the land of the University academic is well-known (and frighteningly accepted in many cases). The humour of these on goings has been well-captured by Jorge Cham's PhD Comics website. Want to procrastinate & understand my chosen profession? Check out his site - it's a complete cack!

That's part of the reason why I will be so happy to leave UQ. Leaving behind toxic feelings will be good for my confidence. Even after just moving away from my lab environment, my productivity and outlook on my PhD work/thesis/epic is improving rapidly. A new start will be just what I am looking for.