After the Feedback Workshop – which was held in the scenic Skamania Lodge, a short hour’s drive from Portland – I spent two nights in Portland. The first thing the woman at the reception told me when I handed over my Belgian passport was that Portland was famous for its beers. Unfortunately my stay in Portland was too short for a complete sample, but as a big fan of American micro-breweries, I did my best to taste a couple of different beers.

Portland is a wonderful city to stroll in and then of course ending up at Powell’s City of Books. I was particularly pleased with the following find.

Besides the intriguing title, it also had a nice and intriguing dedication from the author.

And that is not all, somewhere in the middle of the book was a newspaper clipping from the Oregon Journal.

“Private funeral services were held today at the Edward Holman & Son chapel for Alexander Goldenweiser, 60, internationally known anthropologist and sociologist, who died Saturday from a heart attack at his home at 2675 S.W. Vista Avenue. Dr. Goldenweiser since 1930 had been professor of thought and culture at the University of Oregon extension center here. From 1933 to 1937 he was visiting professor of sociology at Reed college, a position to which he returned in 1938-39 after a year as visiting professor at the University of Wisconsin.

A native of Kiev, Russia, Dr. Goldenweiser received his education at the Kiev gymnasium, Harvard University and Columbia University. He held A. B., A. M. and Ph. D. degrees from the latter institution. […]

A member of numerous learned societies in his fields Dr. Goldenweiser was the author or co-author of several books and published 124 papers in scientific journals. His books included “Anthropology, an Introduction to Primitive Culture”, and “Robots and Gods” [sic].

He is survived by his widow, Ethel of Portland [….].”

(He died on July 6, 1940)