“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” Desiderius Erasmus

It is impossible to exaggerate how important books have been to me throughout my life thus far.

In childhood, the books I read were magic carpets that transported me to the plains of Troy, to Dickens’ England, and to life on the Mississippi with Huck and Tom.

Textbooks provided the framework and infrastructure for a liberal arts education at Beloit, Chicago, Northwestern, U.C.L.A. and Yale. What the two degrees required then prepared me to teach world literature in two of the world’s finest private schools.

And now, today, I still re-read so many of the “classics” while continuing to read and review mostly business books, and interview their authors.

I cannot imagine a life without being able to read and (yes) re-read books. If denied sight, I will listen to them. Unable to hear them, I will learn Braille. And if that is denied, I will still have (I hope) enough brain cells left to be nourished by all the memories associated with my favorite works of non-fiction as well as novels, plays, short stories, and poems.

Desiderius Erasmus speaks for me.