Rough Theory

Books are ridiculously expensive in Australia – and academic texts, bought locally, are often three to five times more expensive than the cost of importing the same text new from the US via Amazon. So I tend to purchase “urgent” texts from overseas, and I have standing searches on Ebay Australia for authors and subjects related to my research interests. Today’s search brought up the
following ad, apparently for a text by C. Wright Mills (although multiple texts are included in the photo).

Check out the sales pitch (formatting in original):

BY AN AUSSIE ACADEMIC …NOW THIS MAN’S EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE DID NOT HAVE MUCH LASTING POWER as AN ACADEMIC FASHION AFTER ALL .

460 PAGES AND AS NEW … OBVIOUSLY LIKE MAO TSE-TUNG ‘S RED BOOK , BOOKS LIKE THIS WILL BE SITTING IN —AS NEW CONDITION—- AS UNSALEABLE IN OLD GUERRILLA HIDE-OUTS ALL OVER THE WORLD BY THE CONTAINER LOAD.

THIS IS THE ERA OF MONOPOLY CAPITALISM , WITH ECONOMIC BLISS FOR THE LUCKY AND PROMISES OF ECONOMIC BLISS FOR EVERYBODY ELSE.

kind of sounds familiar ???

Check out my other items!

460 pages , good solid paper, not glossy , could have many uses .

table mats for the avant garde irritating non-conformists , napkins to serve finger food on after shareholder meetings ; serviettes for ambitious nouveau

poor , the obvious ………..in long drops in the outback etc. etc.

good value here considering the price of toilet paper at COLES these days …460 PAGES

Other entries by the same seller are also worth checking out – this is a personal favourite: why does the photo include a novel (?) on vampires, together with the advertised title “Boost Your Child’s Immune System”?

And then you have the rousing call to action at the conclusion of the ad:

with another Asian airborne epidemic en route , the least you can do NOW is to work toward’s making your children will at the least remain alive , even if you become orphaned . Good luck exciting times are on the way !!!