Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son [Paperback]

George Horace Lorimer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 25, 2007

With Pictures by Fr. Gruger and Martin Justice

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: BiblioBazaar (July 25, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0554137216
• ISBN-13: 978-0554137216
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,042,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A classic text with timeless advice, November 8, 2009

By 

Ryan C. Holiday (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Old Gorgon Graham: More Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son (Paperback)

This book is the preserved correspondence between Old Gorgon Graham, a self-made millionaire in Chicago, and his son who is coming of age and entering the family business. The letters date back to the 1890s but feel like they could have been written in any era. They are surprisingly stoic. Honest. Genuine. Packed with good advice. Normally these types of books are unreadably boring and personal. My version has only Graham's letters and none from his son so there is only one voice, one perspective to follow. It gives the book a sense of narrative and flow that most books of letters lack (for which they suffer). One of my favorite parts is where Graham suggests that history should be taught backwards because most people never make it up to the present. I had a history teacher do this for one class in high school and it's still the only formal education I've had on some of those subjects. I've since had plenty of time to go back and get caught up with what happened in the few thousand years prior.

The book is in the public domain - I've never even heard it mentioned outside of Joseph Epstein's Ambition: The Secret Passion (which is also good) - so this specific copy is a little strange. It has some arbitrary pictures that obviously were not included in the letters themselves and has unusually large font. The book looks a bit like one a college textbook but don't let that fool you, it is very readable.