WPI Journal - The Magazine for WPI Alumni

WIN 2013

The Alumni Magazine for Worcester Polytechnic Institute. (WPI)

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notebook Wandering the Stacks A university is a library with a bunch of buildings around it. —Shelby Foote "Libraries are magical places," he adds without irony. A mutual love for the stacks jump-started our phone conversation, which would last more than three hours, as we leapt from W libraries to reading interests to cosmology to Bob Dylan to photography to multiverses to Hindu theology to Joseph Campbell to a bit hile mankind may have its shortcomings, a reluc- of rock 'n' roll gossip (hey, I'm a fan, too), and ending with a playful tance to catalogue knowledge is not chiefly discussion of whether physicists can mathematically prove karma. among them. Libraries first appeared some 4,000 "I suppose somewhere between Dylan and Bach it's been years ago, and have proven to be an innovation proven," quips Salwitz, who has shared a stage with rock's biggest with staying power. As innovations go, the book isn't far behind. Yet, for the last hun- names yet seems as proud of the harmonica patent that he shares with friend Pierre Beauregard as he is his rock fame. dred years, pundits and futurists have been predicting its demise Salwitz's close friend and bandmate of 40 years Danny Klein says with regular frequency. In 1922, no less an emissary of progress his own WPI experience mirrored the era. "It was a time of soul- than Thomas Edison himself predicted that the moving picture searching. The Vietnam War was pulling you one way, your educa- would soon replace the book. tion another, and the music still another. We couldn't resist the music. The books-are-going-away meme emerged with the telegraph, I sometimes wonder how my life would have turned out if I hadn't met grew louder with the talking picture show, louder still when com- Dick and Jay at WPI." Klein pauses, before adding in mock defense, mercial radio arrived, and has been a persistent drumbeat through- "It's Muddy's fault! Muddy Waters made me drop out of WPI!" out our lifetimes, which includes the era of television, the computer Klein, who peppers his stories with crisp one-liners, was a WPI printout, the desktop revolution, the CD ROM, and the sprawling cheerleader, an image that still tickles his fellow band members. Klein miracle that is the Internet. says he often enjoyed the honor of picking up Gompei, then a live Today, it is the portability of smartphones, e-readers, and tablets that will render books obsolete. Yet, the empirical evidence sug- goat at a nearby farm, and bringing him to Saturday football games. "Cheering got me out of mandatory gym," he says with a chuckle. gests otherwise, for we print—and sell—more bound books than ever before. Therein lies the difficulty with plans and predictions: they so often run headlong into reality, which can be tough to see, especially if one's always staring at the future. And in the case of books, we "Muddy Waters made me drop out of WPI!" frequently misread the tea leaves of progress. Paper, for instance, has proven to be an innovation with far more staying power than originally thought, as William Powers neatly explains in his 2006 positional paper, Hamlet's Blackberry: Why Paper is Eternal, which is, ironically, available only online. I deliver this lengthy defense of ink and paper as backdrop so I ask about mandatory ROTC, which was also required of all WPI students until 1969, wondering if this requirement conflicted with his rebellious rock 'n' roll nature. you might better understand my delight in discovering a fellow bib- "No," Klein quickly replies, his voice dropping as though protect- liophile in Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz, the legendary harmonica ing a secret. "WPI was really smart. ROTC had the only computers player of the J. Geils Band, who, in reliving his WPI student days, let on campus. And no engineering student could resist playing with a drop the confession that his education was sometimes hindered by computer back then. We went to ROTC." a "weakness for libraries." Wanting to make sure I hear him right, I ask for clarification, where upon Salwitz confesses a weakness for the college library that would Irresistible books, technology, and music. Friendship and karma. The paper you're holding in your hands. Some things aren't easily displaced. make a librarian swoon, including an elegant tribute to the library gods and the good karma bestowed upon those brave enough to "wander the stacks," where inevitably one always stumbles upon a gem, a book so fresh that it proves "irresistible," its value increased in no small part because of the cosmic randomness of it all. james wolken, editor Winter 2013 5

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