I just finished reading this absolutely riveting book called "Lead Wars" by D.B. Wertheimer. It's a book one of my clients gave me. It's out of print but you can probably find it at your local used book store.
Anyways, it is a fabulous account of the pencil industry from pre-War 40s to the mid 80s. It primarily focuses on pencil mogul Simon Pembrington and his rise to fame with his invention of the #2 pencil. And it goes into tremendous detail involving the switch from lead to graphite, the back channel negotiations between him and the ScanTron company for exclusivity on all ScanTron forms (Simon ACTUALLY whored out his youngest daughter to make it happen!!), and how the entire pencil industry -- which hated Pembrington -- was forced to team up with him to combat the invention of erasable ink in the early 80s.
Absolutely fantastic stuff. I got through all 457 pages in about 4 sittings. Granted, a few of those sittings were on the toilet where I can spend a few hours and not even know it. But I guarantee if you're interested in the history of the pencil, you'll have a hard time putting this one down.
-TW
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- Terry Waters
- It's hard being Terry Waters. 'Cause if we go in der... dey gonna see us.... and we be in a heap a poop, mon!
3 comments:
Dear Mr Waters, do you remember those really think red pencils that we used to write with in grade school? Were those made of lead? This would have been in the early to mid 70's. I was recently diagnosed with heavy metal poisoning and I am exploring every possibility. Thank you.
Mr. Stipanovich,
I forwarded your email to the publishing company of Lead Wars in hopes of getting an answer to your question. However, I was saddened to hear that Mr. Wertheimer passed away in a freak accident involving a wood chipper and, thus, won't be answering your email. I'll do the best I can...
Chances are the red pencils were made of lead. However the "heavy metal poisoning" could be from listening to an abundance of old Ratt or Aerosmith records. I'd discontinue immediately.
TW
Hilarious review. The old Scantron Conspiracy..... too rich!
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