The Ziolkowski Resolution
A few years ago I was reading aloud to Gaia an article referring to the author Hermann Hesse, when I found myself reciting the quoted words of a scholar named Theodore Ziolkowski. This surname belonged also to our next-door neighbor, Eric, so, I checked the Internet to see if they were related
Yes. Theodore was Eric’s father who, I was shocked to learn, had died just days before, aged 88. I took a photo of the passage I’d been reading aloud, texted it to Eric, and offered our condolences.
Perusing Theodore Ziolkowski’s Wikipedia article, I saw the man had led a remarkable life and, beginning in 2001, after retiring from decades teaching at Princeton University, had commenced to write a book a year for the next twenty!
Well, in 2020, I had published two books: Son of Rebel Bookseller, and The Music Thief. I resolved that, like Theodore Ziolkowski, I should strive to maintain my productivity. A book a year.
In 2021, I failed, but in 2022, I succeeded. My book about my uncle was entitled, The Money’s Not Real, Is It?
“What do Vietnam-draft dodgers, buried gold, Basque terrorists, the World’s Oldest Living Hippie, rampant inflation, the CIA, a Russian revolutionary, Confederate coins, Indonesian militant feminists, and Doc Brown from Back to the Future, have in common? The answer lies in a nondescript upstate New York warehouse overflowing with currency from every country—more cash than ever before amassed. In The Money’s Not Real, Is It? Andrew Laties—author of Rebel Bookseller—tells of his uncle, currency dealer David Laties, who with his partners Robert Bashlow and John Aiello created the historically-unique Educational Coin Company: world’s largest dealer in obsolete money, with 300 million pieces from 200 countries. This unlikely tale brings together international politics, family history, and countercultural resistance.”
Unfortunately, after reading it, my uncle requested that I not publish the book. This possibility hadn’t occurred to me. But he’d provided most of the information, so….
You don’t have to publish books right when they’re written.
When New Year 2023 rolled around, I started another book. This time the people I reached out to for expert help were enthusiastic about publication; I released Living Ur Sonata: Conjuring Kurt Schwitters to Transcend Authority and Seize the Hour in time to promote it at that fall’s Easton Book Festival.
In 2024, I published print and audiobook versions of Melba Tolliver’s Accidental Anchorwoman: a Memoir of Chance, Choice, Change, and Connection. After Christmas 2024, I felt disappointed that I’d failed to write a book of my own—but I surprised myself by realizing on New Year’s Day 2025 that I could edit the dream-journal I’d kept for the past few years into a manuscript. I published Which Way Up Is This? in February. Then, to my surprise, I found myself—in the bookstore’s weekly Shut Up & Write sessions—working on a book about book-banning: You’re Telling My Kids They Can’t Read This Book?
Along with my 2011 second edition of Rebel Bookseller, I’ve been displaying my six books at the cash register. I tell customers, this is the only bookstore where you’ll find these books!
Thanks, Theodore Ziolkowski.
…………What is my 2026 book? I’m still trying to decide!
(Sorry, if you want to read the book about Educational Coin Company, you’ll have to wait.)
