Stirling’s doing reasonably well, and is at the stage of boredom induced near-madness which people who have spent a long time in medical institutions will be familiar with.
As NBBooks reports, he’d like books. To me he said he’d like history and economic books.
If you want to send him some, please send them c/o his fiance:
Stirling Newberry
c/o Mi-Jeong Kim
19 S. Russell St. Apt 3
Boston MA 02114
Stirling still has some mobility issues, but he can get around using a cane, and that’s a vast improvement. Still has aphasia as well.
CMike
Any thoughts as to whether S.N. would find an e-reader and ebook editions useful?
Ian Welsh
Right now, no, he’s very low-teched at the facility.
RayS
Does he have preferences in History? (Econ not my thing – I depend on him for that).
Peaceable Kingdom Lost – the destruction of Wm. Penn’s Holy Experiment.
Vanished Kingdoms – rise & fall of states/nations (including obscure ones).
Brief History of Late Ottoman Empire.
Empire of the Summer Moon – Quanah Parker & the Comanches.
Handbook to Life in Prehistoric Europe.
The Righteous – Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust.
Any or all?
Ian Welsh
I think he’d be happy with any. A friend sent him a book, he finished it in one day.
markfromireland
I’ll be very happy to hit Amazon and buy him a book – small enough a recompense for all he’s written over the years. But I need to be told which book. For all I know he considers the works of XXXXX on topic YYYYYY to be the equivalent of The Adventures of Princess Sparklepony.
I’ve been in this situation before Ian and it was very frustrating for all concerned as the chap got 3 copies of a book he was only mildly interested in and no copies of books he really wanted. Would you consider drawing up a list of books he wants and posting it here? And we can coordinate amongst ourselves. If that’s not convenient would you or his c/o person email me the Title and Author of a book you know he really wants.
mfi
On reflection would setting up an Amazon or Powells or wherever wish list be better?
Ian Welsh
Aphasia makes such conversation still problematic. I’ll see about writing up a list of books I suspect he’d find interesting.
Ian Welsh
On consideration: the problem with that is that anything I think Stirling will find interesting, he’s probably already read. Still, will see what I can do.
You’re a scholar of choral music: he loves music. If you have a book on the history or theory or personalities, he’d almost certainly love that.
Celsius 233
You’re a scholar of choral music: he loves music. If you have a book on the history or theory or personalities, he’d almost certainly love that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indeed, MFI’s Saturday Choral is outstanding. A place of refuge even…
markfromireland
@ Ian,
Now that’s a good idea – thanks for that, from his music, I suspect he might be interested in William Billings. So something along those lines on the way. Stirling’s a modern composer but also interested in history so a collection of original documents dealing with Early Phonograph, Cinema, and Radio also on their way.
Sorry to be a pest but could you find out if he minds getting second-hand books – many of the classics dealing with early American choral music or renaissance era polyphony are out of print but second-hand copies are available.
mfi
PS: for Americans who want to learn a little about their musical history and Billings’ brilliant treatment of dissonance:
The Music Of William Billings
william billings – YouTube Search
William Billings – David’s Lamentation (Bowdoin College Chamber Choir) – YouTube
Joshua Shank’s modern setting:
▶ 2010 Oregon All-State Choir: David’s Lamentation – YouTube
mfi
markfromireland
@ Celsius 233 December 11, 2013
Place of refuge for me too given what I do for a living and where I find that writing about the music I love helps keep me sane. Well … ish.
mfi
markfromireland
PS; Shameless self-promotion:
Saturday Chorale | A site for lovers of music
mfi
Celsius 233
markfromireland
December 11, 2013
PS; Shameless self-promotion:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LOL, you’ve earned the right…
It’s truly a thing of beauty and good on ya…
Tony Wikrent
Reply to markfromireland – mark, I sent Sterling nothing but second-hand books. A few I had sitting on the shelves, but the rest I bought through abebooks.com. And, I really cannot afford to buy new books for myself, let alone give them away.
Just as I was writing this, Stirling called to inquire about sending back the books I had sent him. I told him to keep them, but he can send books back if you want to lend Stirling some rare books from your own collection. (It would probably help to include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for Stirling’s use if you would like a book back, but I did not confirm this with him.) So, I was able to go over a list just by selecting titles I had on my shelves near at hand, or could think of off the top of my head. These are titles Stirling would very much like to receive:
Gordon Wood, The Creation of the American Republic
Drew R. McCoy, The Elusive Republic: Political Economy in Jeffersonian America
Johnson, E.A.J., The Foundations of American Economic Freedom: Government and Enterprise in the Age of Washington.
Gabor S. Boritt, Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream
Leonard P. Curry, Blueprint for Modern America: Nonmilitary Legislation of the First Civil War Congress
Merritt Roe Smith, Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology: The Challenge of Change
Merritt Roe Smith, Military Enterprise and Technological Change
Sam Pizzigati, The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970
David Graeber, Debt: The First 5,000 Years
Ellen Brown, The Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free
Philip Mirowski, The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective (if anyone wants to gift me with a copy of this also, I would be deeply grateful.)
Thomas Palley, From Financial Crisis to Stagnation: The Destruction of Shared Prosperity and the Role of Economics
Here are titles that Stirling has already read, including the one I recently sent him.
Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
Frank Bourgin, The Great Challenge: The Myth of Laissez-Faire in the Early Republic
Lawrence Goodwyn, The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America
Chernow’s biographies
Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste: How Neoliberalism Survived the Financial Meltdown (again if anyone wants to gift me with a copy of this also, I would be deeply grateful.)
Ron Suskind Confidence Men : Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President
Joseph E. Stiglitz, The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future
C. Vann Woodward, Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel
Sheldon S. Wolin, Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism
William Goetzmann, Army Exploration in the American West. 1803-1863
Stirling told me he is still sleeping a lot, but reads a few hours each day . So, he is going through books quite quickly.
Tony Wikrent
Oh, so people don’t duplicate my efforts: the next two books I am sending Stirling are:
John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory Of Employment, Interest, and Money
W. M. Clarke, The City in the World Economy
markfromireland
@ Tony Wikrent December 11, 2013
Tony,
Thank you that’s very helpful to know and vastly increases the range of what I can arrange for him to get. I’ve a few books in mind wrt to music history that I think he might like. After he’s finished with them he can keep ’em pass ‘them on to others whatever he wants – the nice thing about getting presents is that once you get ’em they’re yours to do with as you will.
Hopefully people reading this will make use of your list to get him something and/or make further suggestions. Given the amount of intellectual stimulation he’s provided to us over the years I reckon providing some back is fair enough.
mfi
PS: Abebooks.com ooooh my (he said hastily wiping the bibliophilic drool away … )
Ian Welsh
Tony,
he’s definitely read the General Theory — which doesn’t mean he might not like a copy to read now.
Tony Wikrent
I mentioned I had an extra copy of General Theory and asked if he would like it. He wants to re-read it. Kinda scares me a guy in his condition can read material that dense. I never got past the second chapter.
Tony Wikrent
A word of caution about abebooks.com – while it is a GREAT source for out of print books, and for good deals on newer books – and has the added advantages of not being Amazon.com and being a retail channel for independent booksellers – in the past four or give years abebooks.com has been over-run by print-on-demand listings. I’ve heard from two people that the print-on-demand copies they received were copies so illegible they sent the books back for a refund. This is a problem only if you’re looking for very old books, from the 1800s and very early 1900s. Usually, the book description notes that it is a print-on-demand reproduction.
Also, I suspect Stirling reads mathematics books, though I hope Ian can confirm this. I will try to remember to ask Stirling next time I talk to him. But, Dover Publications has done a magnificent job or reprinting a lots of science and mathematics. Here, for example, is a reprint of the 1937 edition of Enrico Fermi’s Thermodynamics, new for only $10.95!
http://store.doverpublications.com/048660361x.html
And Dover has a line it calls Thrift Books that are great classics, and usually under $5.00. For those who don’t have it yet, here is Thorstein Veblen’s The Theory of the Leisure Class in paperback, new, for only $3.50. (I don’t know how they do it!)
http://store.doverpublications.com/0486280624.html
And as our musically inclined fellow travelers hopefully already know, Dover has thousands of music scores, and books on music, musical theory, and musical instruments. Just in case you need the full orchestral score of Handel’s Messiah to properly celebrate the coming holidays:
http://store.doverpublications.com/0486260674.html
Formerly T-Bear
Made contact with Abebooks.com and Vol. X of Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes – Essays in Biography – should be on its way shortly. I am just about to finish reading my copy; guaranteed to contain both history and economics, a twofer, plus unmistakable je ne sais quoi.
hvd
I have sent him Debt, the first 5,000 years. It is only a very tiny recompense for all I have learned from him and this community.
markfromireland
Taking Tony Wikrent’s lists and eliminating books Stirling has or readers here have sent him there are eleven books he’d be very happy to receive. In the list below I’ve searched only Amazon, and quote the cheapest option they give for the book in question. As I don’t know where potential donors live I haven’t listed delivery/p&p costs:
mfi
1. Boritt Gabor S. , Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream $11.79 used (19 offers)
2. Brown Ellen , The Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System and How We Can Break Free $13.00 used (29 offers)
3. Curry Leonard P. , Blueprint for Modern America: Nonmilitary Legislation of the First Civil War Congress $14.99 used (6 offers)
4. Johnson, E.A.J., The Foundations of American Economic Freedom: Government and Enterprise in the Age of Washington. $28.00 used (1 offer)
5. McCoy Drew R. , The Elusive Republic: Political Economy in Jeffersonian America $5.07 used (37 offers)
6. Mirowski Philip , The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective $58.62 new (19 offers)
7. Palley Thomas , From Financial Crisis to Stagnation: The Destruction of Shared Prosperity and the Role of Economics $24.39 new (30 offers)
8. Pizzigati Sam , The Rich Don’t Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970 $7.81 used (29 offers)
9. Smith Merritt Roe , Harpers Ferry Armory and the New Technology: The Challenge of Change $3.92 used (36 offers)
10. Smith Merritt Roe , Military Enterprise and Technological Change $29.13 used (22 offers)
11. Wood Gordon , The Creation of the American Republic $9.90 used (39 offers)
Amazon’s Ron Chernow page. Prices for second-hand books start at less than US$1.00
markfromireland
<optimism>If you can see your way to buying one of these books please do – if ever there was somebody whose earned it Stirling Newberry is that person. Let us know in a comment or by emailing Ian and I’ll update the list</optimism>
mfi
markfromireland
And apologies to our host for writing a comment that was guaranteed to trip the spam filters. I don’t think I’ve ever written a comment with more than ten links in it before.
mfi
Tony Wikrent
I asked Stirling if he had read the Chernow biographies, and he said he had. I did not try to go through the entire list of them, but I will include it in a letter in a few days and make sure Stirling has read them all. Chernow has written biographies of The House of Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and the Warburgs. You might call this “the enemy” side. On our side, Chernow has written biographies of Washington and Hamilton, both of which I highly recommend.
jessica
“The Art of Not Being Governed” is on its way to Stirling.
markfromireland
@ jessica December 14, 2013. –
I’d just sent a mail to Ian saying how disappointing the response has been when you came along. Very good timing 🙂 – That looks to be sufficiently interesting a book that I’ve ordered a copy for myself.
mfi
Stirling
Thank you all. Please tell me email addresses when you send books so that I can send you notes.
Formerly T-Bear
@ Stirling
I don’t know when the book I sent will arrive there. Hope it suits, if not, it can be e-bay~ed for something more to your fancy. Ian has my private e-mail if you’re so disposed. Best of holidays.