A great well of wisdom located

J

JBR

Well-known Member
Location
Southern Canada mtn. valley, tad west of Rockies
How to Live sm.jpg​

Well, what a find!! This was no doubt handed down from a great-grandfather’s collection, but I came across it in a box of garage-sale stuff.

Sure, it's a bit musty... But the title itself vouchsafes a wide & deep promise. Published in 1917 by Funk & Wagnalls, the book is 345 pages co-authored by Professor Irving Fisher and Eugene Lyman Fisk, M.D. It has a foreword by William Howard Taft himself. Timeless wisdom, no doubt. Enigmas brought into the light, and knotty challenges given solutions… warnings provided.

Obviously a tremendous scope. The table of contents heralds trustworthy advice on Housing; Clothing; Hard, Bulky, Uncooked Foods; Mastication; Fifteen Rules of Hygiene; Notes on Alcohol; Notes on Degenerative Tendencies among Nations. Many other headings & topics, too.

Where was this book when I needed to know the secrets, 45 years ago or so? Beyond the front matter, I’ve not yet begun to step into the book’s pages. But it pledges hope of a much better life for me now (though I tremble with the suspicion it may reveal a number of blunders along my path up to now).😜
 

Last edited:
I looked up some info on it...

Bestseller Years: 1915 – 1920s​

The book was an immediate and sustained hit. It was first published in October 1915, and its popularity peaked during the First World War and the early 1920s.




To give you an idea of how fast it moved:

  • First Month (Oct 1915): 1st Edition published.

  • Second Month (Nov 1915): 2nd Edition already printed.

  • By 1916: It reached its 9th edition.

  • By 1919: It was in its 15th edition.

  • By 1946: It reached its 21st edition, with significant revisions as science (thankfully) updated.
It stayed on the cultural radar for decades because it wasn't just sold in stores; it was the "official" textbook for the Life Extension Institute, an organization that many businesses used to provide health exams and advice to their employees.

Total Copies Sold​

Estimates for total sales are difficult because of the sheer number of different editions and the fact that it was distributed through corporate health programs, but historical records suggest it sold well over 400,000 copies during its primary run.




In an era when the U.S. population was less than a third of what it is today, selling nearly half a million copies of a dense health manual was a massive achievement.
 
Paco Dennis said:
I looked up some info on it...

Bestseller Years: 1915 – 1920s​

The book was an immediate and sustained hit. It was first published in October 1915, and its popularity peaked during the First World War and the early 1920s.




To give you an idea of how fast it moved:

  • First Month (Oct 1915): 1st Edition published.
  • Second Month (Nov 1915): 2nd Edition already printed.
  • By 1916: It reached its 9th edition.
  • By 1919: It was in its 15th edition.
  • By 1946: It reached its 21st edition, with significant revisions as science (thankfully) updated.
It stayed on the cultural radar for decades because it wasn't just sold in stores; it was the "official" textbook for the Life Extension Institute, an organization that many businesses used to provide health exams and advice to their employees.

Total Copies Sold​

Estimates for total sales are difficult because of the sheer number of different editions and the fact that it was distributed through corporate health programs, but historical records suggest it sold well over 400,000 copies during its primary run.




In an era when the U.S. population was less than a third of what it is today, selling nearly half a million copies of a dense health manual was a massive achievement.
Click to expand...
Mm... heh heh... I get the feeling that somehow the world has changed a bit in 111 years.☺️
 

Yeah, I have copies of "What a Young Woman Ought to Know" and "What a Young Wife Ought to Know", published in or around 1901. According to the book, as far as I can tell......very little.

There's a statement in there that says that separate bedrooms prevent the familiarity that, even in marriage, breeds contempt.

Nowadays, I think that separate bedrooms prevent the asphyxiation-by-pillow of one snoring spouse by the other one.
 
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