The illustrated guide (which I had known during my PhD) focuses on progress—however, niche progress. Yet, PhD students' life experiences are usually not centered around progress but frustration, disillusionment, and depression. If you want to compare it with anything else, it may be like creating pieces of novel art with great effort, with one's identity tied to it. Yet, even in the case of success, it is unlikely to be appreciated by contemporary people.

So, I prefer a narrative guide to PhD - "The Lord of the Rings: an allegory of the PhD?" by Dave Pritchard, http://danny.oz.au/danny/humour/phd_lotr.html