This page is intended as a place where classmates can "advertise" the products of their heads and hands—-books written and published, art works produced, music written and recorded, even consulting services now offered. There are no restrictions on the dates of such works; they can go back as far as the fall of 1953. But there is a limit of words—250 maximum—to each notice, exclusive of photos, brief descriptions, or lists of items or their contents. Photos of the products (say, of books, art works, or CDs) are acceptable, as is information about where the items are available for sale, especially if they are not available through conventional, national commercial outlets. Send all notices to the corresponding secretary.

Brian R. Walsh: Book on How Boys Learn (posted June 13, 2008)
Harold S. (Hal) Russell: Biography of Horace Capron (posted April 23, 2007)
Walter Benenson: Handbook of Physics (posted April 20, 2007)
Johannes Somary: New Music (posted March 17, 2007)
John Fistere: MultiGraph (posted February 8, 2007)
Courtney H. (Court) Haight: Steel Drum Music (posted December 7, 2006)
Jonathan P. Swinchatt: Book about Napa Wines (posted October 28, 2006)
James F. (Jim) Ziegler: New Book on Soft Errors in Electronics (posted October 9, 2006)
Arthur F. Wertheim: New Book on Vaudeville Wars (posted August 12, 2006)
Otis L. Graham, Jr.: Book on Immigration Crisis (posted August 7, 2006)
Robert D. (Bob) Bentley: My Paintings (posted August 2, 2006)
Norton W. (Nort) Wright: "Jazzworks" Paintings (posted July 29, 2006)
Robert W. (Bob) Ganger: New Book on the Vanderbilt Family (posted July 29, 2006)
Jerome H. (Jerry) Farnum: New Book on Roman Legions (posted July 22, 2006)

Brian R. Walsh: Book on How Boys Learn (posted June 13, 2008)

After forty-two years in independent schools, thirty of them as a headmaster, I retired from The Buckley School in New York City in 2001. Since then I have been providing consulting services for parents and students who are contemplating independent education, and co-directing a program for training first-year teachers in independent schools.

While happily I have had more time to devote to grandchildren, I have also been able to reflect on the changes that have occurred in independent education, and the ways children learn. One of the direct results of my reflections is a new book just published by TMCBooks, LLC of Conway, New Hampshire: Boys Should Be Boys, A Headmaster’s Reflections. This is a memoir style book about how boys learn differently than girls, make friends differently, have entirely different issues of self-esteem and motivation, react to their parents and teachers differently, and, in fact, process just about everything differently. These observations are presented through anecdotes of actual school situations and, more significantly, through the voices and actions of the boys themselves.

This book is available at barnesandnoble.com, and amazon.com, and can be ordered through the publisher.

Harold S. (Hal) Russell: Biography of Horace Capron (posted April 23, 2007)

Prior to my retirement at the turn of the millennium, I resolved to write a biography of a little known 19th century American, General Horace Capron, my great great grandfather. Controversial then and even today, Capron has been described as the Edwards Deming of his day who disappeared into semi-obscurity after spending four years in Japan, just after the Meiji restoration, advising the government on how to develop the large northern island of Hokkaido. With Jim Banner's help, The University Press of America has published the book and has it for sale on their web site for $24.65. Amazon, and bookstores sell it for $29.

As a total doofus who can't type even today and who had not written a long and serious non-legal paper since senior year at Yale, this presented a series of challenges, most of which I failed more than once, but it forced me to educate myself on a series of topics such as: the Civil War (among other things I read Shelby Foote's 14 volumes), the American Revolution, the Wars of 1812 and with Mexico, the life and times of Zachary Taylor, John Hunt Morgan and W.T. Sherman and much more. I visited Utica, New York for several days, Peoria, Illinois, and Kenosha, Wisconsin, Laurel, Maryland, the battlefields of the south and Andersonville, and of course Japan, including a week in Sapporo. All these played a role in his extraordinary life. It was an exhilarating experience and I'd love to do another biography before senility overtakes me. All ideas are most welcome.

Walter Benenson: Handbook of Physics (posted April 20, 2007)

"Nucleus Factory" is a science TV program that was aired around the country on PBS stations about two years ago. It is mainly about nuclear astrophysics, in particular how the elements were created. I especially like the animations that I did with several undergraduate computer science majors. The narration by Linda Hunt is very well done. The music is also good, an original score created by a professor of jazz here at Michigan State and performed by local musicians. There is also a web site about it http://wkar.org/nucleusfactory/ If you want a copy of the DVD, I can send you one gratis. Email me at benenson@msu.edu.

You should order this book from Amazon. "Handbook of Physics" by Walter Benenson, John W. Harris, Horst Stocker, and Holger Lutz, American Institute of Physics; 1 edition (2006) 1249 pages. You can raise its ranking considerably with just one order as you can see on Amazon. "Amazon.com Sales Rank: #475,145 in Books." It does have a five star rating, however.

A book like this takes an incredible amount of work because it must be error-free, and there are thousands and thousands of equations and figures. It is selling quite well actually, mainly to libraries.

Johannes Somary: New Music (posted March 17, 2007)

A new disc entitled "Music of Johannes Somary," distributed by Albany Records, is now available by ordering it directly from Albany Music, 915 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207.

Other examples of my music on Vanguard is available through Arkivmusic.com, Amazon.com, the Musical Heritage Society, or in good record stores that are still in existence. Musical Heritage did recently have a special on my recording of the Bach Brandenburg Concertos. It's hard to know who has what anymore these days.

My recording of my song cycle entitled "Many-Colored Brooms" with words by Emily Dickinson is available on Leonarda Records, and they have a web page from which one can order their discs.

Who's performing? Well most of my Vanguard discs were recorded in London with the excellent English Chamber Orchestra. The choral works have such distinguished soloists as Elly Ameling, Heather Harper, Maureen Forrester, Ernst Haeffliger, and Robert Tear. The Albany disc includes my AmorArtis Chamber Chorus as well as members of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

John Fistere: MultiGraph (posted February 8, 2007)

Sample graph. Click to see a larger version.

Plot Your Medical History with the free MultiGraph Service!

If you have ever watched your doctor flip through a two-inch thick chart trying to get a feel for your medical case, and wondered how he makes sense of it all, you will appreciate the MultiGraph service.

Prostate cancer patients write a chronological history containing their relevant medical data, or fill in an online form with the data. I receive the data via email and usually with just a few mouse clicks, the MultiGraph program reads their data and creates and sends them back an email with one or more graphs of their history. They and their doctors can then graphically review the time relationships of treatments, procedures, and medical results.

The MultiGraph program is a software application I've developed over the years as a "recreational programmer". A few years ago we made it a free service of the Prostate Cancer Research and Education Foundation. Dr. Israel Barken, Chairman and Medical Director, and many survivors have made suggestions for the program, most of which I've implemented. We've done thousands of MultiGraphs for over 800 patients, and continue to do, at a rate of two or three a week, many of them updates for patients with new information.

The program is not restricted to prostate cancer uses, or even medical uses.

You can find out about the Foundation and the MultiGraph (not Medigraph) service at http://www.pcref.org, or you can go straight to the instructions at http://www.pcref.org/instruction.php or to the online form athttp://jfistere.the-dreaming.net/ MultiGraphDataEntry.htm. Examples of simple and complex MultiGraphs are at http://members.cox.net/jfistere/FistereGraph. htm and http://www.762betula.net/pcdigest/. You are invited to give it a try.

Courtney H. (Court) Haight: Steel Drum Music (posted December 7, 2006)

I retired to Blue Hill, Maine in 1990, after a career in international banking to begin a new career in hydroponic farming. Luckily for us, Blue Hill is culturally a vibrant place. Early in our stay, in 1991, an announcement appeared in the local newspaper: an adult education class would be held, the title of which was "Learn how to play in a Steel Band." My wife, Woody, suggested that I sign up for the class, to take a break from our farming activities. Happily for me, these early classes proved that playing the steel drums is "user friendly" for those of us who consider themselves musically "challenged" with no training in any musical instrument. I became an enthusiastic student.

There had been steel bands playing in the area for some years, and one of those was a community steel band called Flash in the Pans, which played street dance concerts on Monday nights all summer long. Woody and I were in attendance for those concerts from our early days in Blue Hill. After a few years of playing in the "beginner" and "intermediate" classes, I formally joined Flash in the Pans in 1994, when for my 60th birthday, the family contributed to the purchase of my own set of pans, which allowed me to practice at home; and practice was and still is necessary!

Flash in the Pans is a group of 35 - 40 volunteer adults, from all walks of life, from high-schoolers to old folks like me (I am not the only 70+ year-old member) who gather to play year around, street dances in the summer and learning new music in the winter. We sponsor a town wide New Years Eve celebration, which is our big community service effort of the year, although most of our summer street dances are benefit performances for various non-profits such as local libraries, museums, alcohol and drug abuse groups, etc. What funds are generated from the sale of our CD's go to support scholarships for youngsters so that they may take steel band classes where local schools do not have music as a part of the curriculum. Thus we try to ensure that steel band is available to students from age 6 through high school. These youngsters are the "farm team" for Flash in the Pan. Indeed, some former students have started up steel band programs in other schools in other parts of the country.

This group has become a second "family" for me, particularly after the death of my dear Woody in early 2005. The proof of what we do for fun can be heard on our CD. I will have copies of the CD with me at our 50th Reunion of the Class of 1957 in May 2007. Our schedule of performances, CD ordering instructions, and historical information about the steel pan is on our web site www.peninsulapan.org

Jonathan P. Swinchatt: Book about Napa Wines (posted October 28, 2006)

In 2004, the University of California Press published The Winemaker's Dance: Exploring Terroir in the Napa Valley," a book I wrote with my friend David Howell about wine and place. Along the way, we delve into a variety of other influences on wine character, from viticulture to wine criticism, using the Napa Valley as the backdrop. Jim Banner gave the book a nice review in the class column but ended with the commercial kiss of death, calling it a "serious" book. Other critics generally found it quite accessible, as you can judge for yourself from reviews at this site. The Winemaker's Dance was a finalist for book of the year in the wine, beer, or spirits category of the International Association of Cooking Professionals in 2005. Over the past few months I have been working on a series of articles for The World of Fine Wine—a relatively new and beautifully produced wine magazine published in London—that explore the interaction of wine, place, people, and culture. Three have appeared so far, on Napa, the Walla Walla Valley in Washington, and the Willamette Valley, with one on Santa Barbara County due out in December. I have the Walla Walla article in pdf format, and can send it to any of you who are interested if you provide an email address. Just mail me at: swin36@cox.net. If you are interested in how a geologist got involved in the world of wine, go to http://www.earthvisioninc.com for that story and a description of my approach to understanding vineyards from a different perspective.

James F. (Jim) Ziegler: New Book on Soft Errors in Electronics (posted October 9, 2006)

"Soft Errors in Electronics – History, Status and Trends. A Guide for Designing with Memory Integrated Circuits"

About 25 years ago, I got interested in terrestrial cosmic rays. These are particles that originate outside our galaxy, and wander for millions of years and finally might hit Earth. They are not rare – the cascades from these particles send about two million particles a day through your body. These particles are the source for almost all methods of dating of ancient things. When you consider the interaction of this flux of energetic particles with ultra-sensitive integrated circuits, there is the probability that there will be random micro-bangs. I published the first paper about this possible effect in 1979. By 1985, about $300M a year was being spent on this effect, which got the nickname of soft-fails. This is because the cosmic ray interaction would change the content of a stored number, but have no effect on the hardware. By 2005, there are six major conferences each year about this effect, and how to attempt to mitigate its problems. As an example, last year on Christmas eve, the United Airlines network got hit with a soft fail, and 68,000 passengers were stranded because the airplanes and crews couldn't be assigned and there was no record of any passengers. Last year, Cypress Semiconductor Co. asked me to write a review of the history of soft fails, and predict trends. Of special note to classmates are the lock-up effects on implantable devices such as pacemakers and implanted insulin pumps. The book is available from the Cypress website in four languages for $25, www.cypress.com. Or write to me, and I'll send you a copy in exchange for the postage. It does have a lot of equations.

Arthur F. Wertheim: New Book on Vaudeville Wars (posted August 12, 2006)

I have recently published Vaudeville Wars (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), a book that illuminates the exciting story about how the tycoons of the two most powerful circuits, Keith-Albee in the East and the Orpheum in the West, conspired to control the the big time and its performers.  These circuits revolutionized popular stage entertainment by breaking with the bawdy concert-saloon tradition  by offering  wholesome amusement that appealed broadly to families and many sectors of society. In the early 1900s, the circuits created an oligopoly called the Combine, a territorial alliance that gave Keith-Albee and the Orpheum control of the "big time" from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coasts.  I show how the Combine used cutthroat tactics to suppress rival owners and to squash performers' rights (and their White Rats' union) through strikebreaking and blacklisting.  My book describes how Joseph P. Kennedy masterminded a takeover of Keith-Albee/Orpheum through clever stock manipulations and then linked the company to RCA to form Radio Keith Orpheum. When the "big-time" venues, including the famous Palace, became RKO sound movie theaters, the curtain descended on the vaudeville wars.

Since graduation, I have also written other books on 20th Century American culture, including The New York Little Renaissance (NYU Press, 1976) and Radio Comedy (Oxford, 1979)  as well as edited three volumes of The Papers of Will Rogers (Univiversity of Oklahoma Press, (1992, 1996, 2000), Will Rogers at the Ziegfeld Follies (University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), and American Popular Culture(ABC-Clio, 1984).

These works might never have been written if it was not for two inspirational professsors in American Studies at Yale:  Norman Holmes Pearson and Robert Bone.

For more information see www.vaudevillewars.com and amazon.com.

Otis L. Graham, Jr.: Book on Immigration Crisis (posted August 7, 2006)

In 2004 I published (well, Rowman and Littlefield did, officially) Unguarded Gates: A History of America's Immigration Crisis, my 17th book, written or edited—and the most important. (Did I hear Banner say, easily the most, as none of the rest have been?). It is what the title promises and should clear up any questions you have about how this nation got itself into the current (and for three decades) out-of-control immigration fiasco. All in 204 pages of prose, most of them dealing with the recent past and the present. And available through all conventional booksellers.

Robert D. (Bob) Bentley: My Paintings (posted August 2, 2006)

I can't do anything but draw and paint. I figured it out in '75 when I lined up categories on unlined white paper, after two real jobs (advertising and brokerage) that I hated and at which I was not very apt. "Artist" was the only mark I could honestly check.

I paint people, lots of them: Prominent people (George W. and Laura in the White House), private people (Lester Crown, Vern Louks), caricatures (shades of the Yale Record), and landscapes/waterscapes. I have developed a process which works. I visit the portrait client, draw many, many sketches, give them my recommendations as to likeness and pose for their aggrement and I come home to my studio in WI, and stretch the canvas and paint.

Two months later I send them a digital image or a hard copy of the painting in progress and ask for their thoughts. I present the portrait shortly thereafter. I charge $10-20,000 per figure with 30-50% more for additional detail (multiples get a discount), and I ask one-third in advance with the balance due on successful completion. In 30 years I have had two failures, and I don't want to talk about them.

I figure that if you can draw something, you can color it. Oils are the most flexible medium; a good oil painter can make his work look like a watercolor, a pastel (Casatte), like a photograph (Ingres), or like a juicy, painterly garden (Monet). The above are my own theories.

Now, if you want more, I have classes in January here in Ellison Bay, WI. And my website is www.rdbentley.com.

Norton W. (Nort) Wright: "Jazzworks" Paintings (posted July 29, 2006)

Inspired by my "JazzWorks" series of abstract paintings, here's a fresh verbal salute to the music of Jerome Kern:
You say Purina
And I say piranha
You say Carmina
And I say Burana
Purina, piranha
Carmina, Burana
Let's call the whole thing Orff

My colorful abstract expressionist paintings visualize the sound of the giants of jazz.  See what the music of Miles Davis, Theolonius Monk, Pat Metheny, Marian McPartland, and  other jazz greats LOOKS LIKE!  Samples of the paintings can be viewed and purchased through the Schomburg Gallery in Los Angeles. Its website for viewing the paintings is www.schomburggallery.com.

Robert W. (Bob) Ganger: New Book on the Vanderbilt Family (posted July 29, 2006)

I authored my first book a mere 48 years after graduation. It was recently awarded Best Non-Fiction-2005 in regional judging by Independent Publisher, an association representing several thousand independent, university, and small press publishers in North America.

Entitled "Lila Vanderbilt Webb's Miradero:  Window on an Era," the book recounts the life and times of a relatively unknown member of the otherwise celebrated family of William Henry Vanderbilt, heir to the Commodore Vanderbilt shipping and railroad fortune.  "Miradero" is the name Mrs. Webb gave to a winter home that she designed and built near Palm Beach, FL, in the early 1930s.  My family acquired a derelict Miradero in 1969, saving it from certain demolition. We knew nothing of its provenance at the time. When I semi-retired in the early 1990's, my wife, Anneli, and I commenced a lengthy project to restore our relic home to its former elegance.  Research on the original owner led to unexpected discovery.

Lila's story is a once a tale of romance and despair, of the blessing and curse of inherited wealth, and above all, of a remarkable Victorian lady who drew strength from adversity.  Her lifelong journey from Vanderbilt Row in Manhattan, to Shelburne Farms in Vermont, and ultimately to the Palm Beaches, reflects a lifestyle that few of us can imagine today.

Miradero was published by the Historical Society of Palm Beach County.  Bookstore distribution is largely local but it is available online through conventional booksellers.

Jerome H. (Jerry) Farnum: New Book on Roman Legions (posted July 22, 2006)

I have had another book, The Positioning of the Roman Imperial Legions, published this year by Archaeopress in England.  It is available in the U.S. through The David Brown Book Company in Oakville, CT.  The book traces the locations of the legions through the provinces from AD30-AD300 with maps showing a coherent strategy on stationing the Roman army around the Empire.  This work follows earlier publications: 17 Ausfluege zu den alten Roemern in der Schweiz [17 Tours to the Ancient Romans in Switzerland] (Hallwag 1973); Guide romain de la Suisse [Roman Guide to Switzerland] (Payot 1975); and 20 Ausfluege zu romantischen Burgruinen in der Schweiz [20 Tours to Romantic Castle Ruins in Switzerland] (Hallwag 1976). I was also a co-translator for a 10 volume English version of Swiss legislation published 1982- 2006 by the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce, Zurich.