Random Walk: Harold Washington Library

I have long been fascinated by randomness. I'm not sure why. Ever since I was little, though, I have liked the idea of it. It seems impersonal but also vast, inexhaustible, like an undiscovered country all its own. Of course it's also potentially disappointing and frustrating. I'm sure all explorers have their share of disappointments though. Borges pays marvelous tribute to the idea in "The Library of Babel." In a world of pure randomness, the ratio of sense to nonsense is terribly low.

Fortunately, the Harold Washington Library is not a world of pure randomness. Given the contents and the target population, there's not even all that much chance of my coming across a book in a language I can't read. So since I'm working here for the day, I used my Excel random number generator to choose a random floor (4), a random number of turns (9), what the turns--or non-turns--should be (left, left, right, left, straight, right, left, straight, straight), a number of steps to walk (8), and a side to reach my hand (left). This resulted in the following book:

4000 Years of Service: The Story of the Wholesale Tobacco Industry and its Pioneers, by Joseph Kolodny, copyright 1953.

The date is key. No sign of health risks, or addiction, or anything at all troubling about tobacco. Tobacco is just plain good business in 1953.

I was quite struck by the number "4000 years." In my field (ancient history), we might occasionally run into a number that large, but mostly things 4000 years ago are the province of archeologists. In China at least we're not even talking oracle bones or bronzes, but rather painted pots, bit of jade-work. Well, 4000 years is not the length of time that people have been using tobacco, or if so only incidentally to the subject matter of this book.

It turns out that the National Association of Tobacco Distributors (NATD), which figures most prominently in this particular publication, established a "Half-Century Club" to honor those tobacco industry figures who had been in the business for fifty years or more. I guess the club had about 80 members. Anyway, it's a bit astonishing that this book came to be. It's a whole lot of dross. Some history of the tobacco industry and its importance to America, an address delivered by the author at the inaugural meeting of the half-century club, and an bunch of nice black and white portraits: pioneers of the tobacco industry. Lastly, some essays on the future of the tobacco industry. A whole lot of stuff those guys didn't see coming.

It's odd that this book is taking up space in the library's reference section. On the other hand, since the inaugural meeting of the NATD Half-Century club took place at the Palmer House here in Chicago, I suppose it's a little piece of Chicago history. It is fairly disturbing nonetheless.