Study and Stimulants by A. Arthur Reade

Suggest and discuss books to read (all languages welcome!)
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lightcrystal
Posts: 1202
Joined: October 22nd, 2021, 10:55 pm
Location: Melbourne with kangaroos

Post by lightcrystal »

This would be a cracker of a book to do. Sadly I cannot do it for reasons that I will explain.

In my Antipodean land of " the author snuffs it" [a pun, you'll see] plus 70 years, I have to either become a world expert on death dates or be on a first name basis with The Grim Reaper. The book is unique and hilarious. At first I thought it was satirical. Reade contacts about 50 people, including some famous people like Mark Twain, and asks them their views on alcohol, tobacco, and other stimulants, and if they help/hinder their creative work. They respond with answers ranging from one perfunctory sentence to a min-essay, and Reade puts all their answers in his book. It was a survey ahead of its time.

Does this mean that I would have to find that none of the respondents lived past 1955? One, that would be an enormous amount of research and, two, it may be impossible to know. The chances of reaping success would be grim. I am not risking it. I understand one thing about law; if there's a 0.00000000001% chance of being sued then someone will be.

Some of the lines in the responses are crackers. The potential for Tom Bakeresque humour here is to me obvious.

I want someone else to do this. I can't. But there is fun FOR YOU. Here's the link to Project Gutenberg:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6752

Enjoy! [reading or recording]
I'm a geek. I wreck my computer. Then I fix it.
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