Dumbth [antikvár]

Forewordby Norman CousinsThe world knows Steve Allen as a musician and as an entertainer. Inaddition, his friends know Steve Allen as someone whose thought processesare always working as a student of history and world affairs, as a phi-losopher, and, finally, as someone who takes pains to get the most outof his own capabilities. Certainly no one I know has thought more care-fully about the use of his time and skillsor his relationships to otherpeople. I first became aware of these special propensities when, in themiddle of conversation, he whipped out a mini tape-recorder and dictatednotes to his secretary by way of following up on a point that emergedfrom our discussion. When I visited his office for the first time, I wasenormously impressed with the organization of his files, which I learnedhe designed himself. I was consumed with envy at his ability to maintainaccess to, and stay in possession of, his past. I was to discover thathe organizes his memories no less systematically than he does his papers.Everything in this book is Steve Allen-tested. That is, he doesn'ttheorize about the way an individual perceives the world; what he saysflows out of actual personal experience. His is the inner view, conveyedwith uncommon wisdom and felicity of expression. No man who knowsas much about comedy as he does can fail to know a great deal aboutlife. What we have, then, is a book that only a lifetime lived by SteveAllen can produce.John Dewey once said that the test of an educated person is theability to come into possession of all his/her powers. This book isdedicated to that proposition.7