Book Beginnings & Friday 56 -- The Phone Book by Ammon Shea

Book Beginnings on Friday is a meme hosted by A Few More Pages. Anyone can participate; just share the opening sentence, or two, of your current read, making sure that you include the title and author so others know what you're reading.

A wonderful and picturesque story about telephone books appears in an old railroad journal from 1935.  An unnamed fruit company in Central America was having difficulty with local bandits, who were hijacking its trains.

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice. Check out the rules and join in the fun.

Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
Turn to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post that sentence (plus one or two others if you like) along with these instructions on your blog or (if you do not have your own blog) in the comments section of this blog. Post a link along with your post back to this blog.

"They tell you to 'write it down' not memorize it.  Try writing a telephone number down in a dark booth while groping for a pencil, searching in an obsolete phone book and gasping for breath.  And all this in the name of efficiency!"

This book, by the author of Reading the OED, was a fun one to read -- lots of telephone-related trivia to impress friends and family.  :)  One bit I keep thinking about -- early telephone users were encouraged to end their call by saying "That's all."  I find this amusing and would like to implement it but I'm pretty sure it's actually too brusque to fit my style.  3.5/5 stars