And Yet More About Books

Jim Tresner, 33°, Grand Cross
Books Reviews Editor
The Scottish Rite Journal

The obvious theme of this issue of the Scottish Rite Journal is books. I’ve already waxed an elephant on the importance of books and of reading books on Masonry, or books which help us understand Masonry, earlier in the issue, page 16 to be exact. But there are two specific treasures to call to your attention.

Hooked on Books: Everybody’s Guide to Book Collecting by Maurice Dunbar. 1997, hardbound, 214 pages, Smart’s Publishing Group ISBN 0–9654129–4–6 Available from www.amazon.com for $24.95, plus s/h.

Maurice V. Dunbar, Ph.D., 32°, K.C.C.H., retired Professor of English, Librarian and Orator of the San Jose Scottish Rite Temple, and obviously a man I’d like to know, has written a great book here. Even if you have no intention of ever collecting books, this one is one worth owning. In the first place, most of us end up with a collection, whether we intended to or not. But beyond that, there is much in this book for anyone who owns any books at all.

There are notes on how to preserve the value of your books (for example, don’t throw away the dust jacket or use it to mark pages) and very good information about how to clean and care for books. I must admit that I worry more about my own use of a book than about posterity’s. I usually glue a ribbon into the spine to be used as a bookmark and, if I really enjoy a book, I make marginal notes. Brother Dunbar strongly advises against this under most circumstances, and he’s right. But on the other hand, one of my most treasured possessions is a copy of Morals and Dogma, picked up at a garage sale, in which three different owners had made notes, sometimes commenting on the notes of an earlier owner. My own working copy of M&D is a mass of underlinings and notations. But then, for me it is more of a text book, and Brother Dunbar agrees that different rules apply then. This is a good book, easy and rewarding to read. If you love books, or need to know how to fix and care for them, or just want a good book about books, this is for you.

Everything is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults, and Cover-ups by Robert Anton Wilson 1998, paperbound, 435 pages Harper Perennial Books, $15.00 ISBN 0–06–273417–2 Order from your local bookstore or the Internet.

I badly misjudged this book when I first saw the cover. Is there a lesson there? "Oh no," thought I, "one more book telling how Masons are horrid conspirators." WRONG. This is a good book, written in a lively style, which lists the efforts of the conspiracy-mongers and just indicates what the reality may be. It is a breath of sanity in an otherwise goofy world. If you want to treasure the belief that there are dark doings behind every corner, this is not the book for you (but then, Masonry is not for you, either). But if you enjoy reason and intelligence, presented with an occasional touch of wit, you’ll enjoy this work. Let me illustrate with a quotation from the section on Masonry: "The major offense of Masonry to orthodox churches is that it, like our First Amendment, encourages equal tolerance for all religions, and this tends, somewhat, to lessen dogmatic allegiance to any one religion. Those who insist you must accept their dogma fervently and renounce all others as devilish errors, correctly see this Masonic tendency as inimitable to their faith."

Jim Tresner is Director of the Masonic Leadership Institute and Editor of The Oklahoma Mason. A frequent contributor to the Scottish Rite Journal and its book review editor, Illustrious Brother Tresner is also a volunteer writer for The Oklahoma Scottish Rite Mason and a video script consultant for the National Masonic Renewal Committee. He is the Director of the Thirty-third Degree Conferral Team and Director of Work at the Guthrie Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie, Oklahoma, as well as a life member of the Scottish Rite Research Society, author of the popular anecdotal biography Albert Pike, The Man Beyond the Monument, and a member of the steering committee of the Masonic Information Center. Ill. Tresner was awarded the Grand Cross, the Scottish Rite’s highest honor, during the Supreme Council’s October 1997 Biennial Session.