Abbie Hoffmnan famously wrote a book titled Steal This Book. What greater compliment could an author hope for than to have his or her book stolen? Jeffrey Kessen, may his tribe increase, quotes from a recent FaceBook post by someone who, in 1983, stole my book, Kant's Theory of Mental Activity, from a library! That is infinitely better than a positive review.
This has definitely made my day.
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"That is infinitely better than a positive review." Indeed, it is. However, even Abbie Hoffman didn't promote stealing books from libraries. In a section of the book headed FREEBIES he includes libraries. "You can always use the library," he writes (p.251 of the original paperback), and then he describes how to get more information about services, branches, etc.
In the acknowledgements section, dubbed AIDING AND ABETTING, following a long list of credits -- "Janis, Jimi,...the Partridge Family,...Jefferson Airplane,...Artaud..."--he concludes, "and last but not least to Spiro what's his name who provided the incentive." That book was a hoot. I spent quality time with it c.1973.
Twas I.
I used to offer an annual technology seminar as part of the alumini week. The day-long seminar got so popular that we had to institute pre-registration, tickets, reservations, and make arrangements for stand-bys, cancellations, etc. The dean still kept insisting that we collect evaluations. One year, in the evaluations packet, I included what I thought was a better "review" than any evaluation: evidence of ticket scalping for a seat in the seminar.
I’m ashamed to admit I photocopied your maths Marx book in the seventies. I worked nights in an office and used their photocopier to nick the entire thing. So I stole off them as well as you. I still have it, wrapped in a rubber band at the back of my economics shelf. But it really wasn’t obtainable any other way...
If you really photocopied it in the seventies, then I would try to find that copy machine, if I were you, because it has magical properties. The book was published in '85. But I am happy you wanted it enough to nick it.
Yes, the eighties. I’m a mathematician: numbers aren’t my strong point. (Thanks for the absolution: I did. I’d had to do an economics course as part of my maths degree and never really felt the maths was authentic. The equations were there to impress, not to explain or to explore. I wanted your book because I felt it was different, that the maths was essential to your argument. I still do!)
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