After drinking my morning coffee, I went out to get a copy of the Greenspan book. I was initially flummoxed by the discovery that the Barnes & Noble closest to my office is becoming an Ann Taylor, but then found another B & N on 5th Ave. between 45th and 46th Streets.
The book was not prominently displayed–Bill Clinton’s Giving was getting all the love in this particular store. But it was available, and cost me $26.55 after tax. You may be wondering why, as the economics columnist for a reasonably major media outlet, I had to go buy a copy while people at the W$J and Washington Post not only already had copies but interviews with Big Al. The answer is pretty simple: Some rival newsweekly paid a bunch of money to excerpt the book.
So anyway, I bought the book. And as I walked through Rockefeller Center on the way back to the office I was seized by the desire to photograph it with my cameraphone:
I was worried that photo might be too dark, so I took another next to a sun-drenched flower box:
And finally, back at the Time & Life Building:
So there, now I’ve done my part to mindlessly promote the book. Now maybe I should read it.
Update: I have it on good authority that Newsweek did not pay big bucks for its Greenspan excerpt. It’s just that, with Time hitting newsstands on Fridays now instead of Mondays, publishers hoping to build a publicity barrage around a Sunday night appearance on 60 Minutes have no real choice but to go with them. Not that I’m complaining: Fortune ran a great cover story on Greenspan in 1996, and it was one of the two worst-selling issues of the year.
Update 2: My free copy of the book was delivered at 11:40 a.m. I gave it away.