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Man Who Lives in Paradise: Autobiography of A. C. Gilbert with Marshall McClintock
Share in the exciting adventures of A.C. Gilbert, the inventive genius behind AF trains and Erector Sets. This autobiography reads like an exciting adventure tale, because Gilbert led a remarkable life. Hardbound, 388 pages, 5¼ x 8½".
388 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 8, 2022
With autobiography, I separate my review of the person who is the author from the review of the book.
A.C. Gilbert is interesting, and writes/dictates well (or Marshall McLintock edits well; either way, the book is in good and often charming English and has a worthy subject. I also read the book without knowing anything about A.C. or what he was famous for, so it was a story with lots of twists for me rather than driving to an inevitable conclusion. If you somehow got to my review in similar ignorance, I recommend reading the book without learning more. It reads like a nonfiction version of 1960s sci-fi with a dashing engineering hero, or The Martian for a more modern equivalent.
Be warned that a lot of animals are killed in the hunting portions of the memoir. Not "I shot some deer, mounted a head, and ate venison all winter," but closer to the Teddy Roosevelt "let's go to British Columbia and kill everything that moves, leaving everything except the skins behind!" I found this disturbing despite personally loving the hiking, camping, and climbing described myself, and having no objection to hunting, a few trophies, or eating game. The level of excess for wild hunts just to seek head trophies strikes me as truly extreme. I could stomach culling the herd on his own Connecticut preserve well and your comfort may vary.
The theme that emerges is how to live well on business success, rather than focusing on maximum wealth at the expense of enjoyment or one's values and community. It veers inspirational and motivating at several points based on this. There are several points where I was surprised as something of a He wanted to do interesting things that were fun and challenging to him, earn an appropriate reward, and then move on.
I take as given that the successes and author's contribution to them are highlighted and the mistakes minimized, which at least makes for a good story. An autobiographer can't minimize their own mistakes that they do not recognize, however. Role models are a bad idea in general. Humans are humans and come with weirdness and flaws. We're all just trying to do our own thing and not be an example for others. There are a few really discordant notes if you were looking for a role model, however, and those notes are part of the key, and A.C. clearly is positioning himself as something of a role model by the final chapters. So, let's look at these. They aren't surprising: racism, sexism, and systemic bias.
The most glaring one is that the equation of success presented of hard work, clever ideas, and surrounding oneself with solid other men is missing some important terms. A.C. receives loans from his family and banks, is a white man with athletic success (in the early 1900s America), and goes to Yale. I don't think he would have succeeded without his equation, but he also would likely have not succeeded without these other elements. He is clearly oblivious to this, and his good works as presented in the book conspicuously fail to include those that might level the playing field for others. This is not unexpected early in his career, but an obvious omission by the end when he is reflecting back on more than half a century and the makings of a man and company. The only non-white person mentioned in the book is a Native fellow athlete, to have his heritage mocked. Imagine writing in the 1950s and not thinking about civil rights in America enough to justify even a throwaway line, or spending semi-retirement hunting and backpacking in BC back country with zero awareness of the Native population.
Sexism is obvious, both in the notable absence of any women except for noting friends' wives as good if they uncomplainingly took care of him and went hunting or sailing and in the business itself. Regardless of what the culture of his country or class was at the time,
A.C.'s defense of running the 1936 US Olympic committee in Berlin under the Nazis is abhorrent. There is half a sentence noting some "persecution of the Jews" and that Hitler is a strange character when they meet. Ignorance veers to evil at this point. He is writing decades after the Holocaust and WWII with the benefit of hindsight. Any remotely reasonable person would reflect on this and say something to the effect of, "at the time...and yet, had we any inkling of the horrors that were to come through genocide and millions of deaths in war from this madman, of course we would have set a different course that year. I shudder at the thought that I shook hands with the man and regret that I did not have the foresight to employ my influence in athletics and business to discredit instead of support the Nazi regime on an international stage..." A.C. is instead proud of his actions in ensuring the US was present in Berlin. He considered the war an opportunity to use his manufacturing to make landmine parts instead of a terrible loss of 80M lives, including 6M civilian Jews executed their own government.
A.C. Gilbert is interesting, and writes/dictates well (or Marshall McLintock edits well; either way, the book is in good and often charming English and has a worthy subject. I also read the book without knowing anything about A.C. or what he was famous for, so it was a story with lots of twists for me rather than driving to an inevitable conclusion. If you somehow got to my review in similar ignorance, I recommend reading the book without learning more. It reads like a nonfiction version of 1960s sci-fi with a dashing engineering hero, or The Martian for a more modern equivalent.
Be warned that a lot of animals are killed in the hunting portions of the memoir. Not "I shot some deer, mounted a head, and ate venison all winter," but closer to the Teddy Roosevelt "let's go to British Columbia and kill everything that moves, leaving everything except the skins behind!" I found this disturbing despite personally loving the hiking, camping, and climbing described myself, and having no objection to hunting, a few trophies, or eating game. The level of excess for wild hunts just to seek head trophies strikes me as truly extreme. I could stomach culling the herd on his own Connecticut preserve well and your comfort may vary.
The theme that emerges is how to live well on business success, rather than focusing on maximum wealth at the expense of enjoyment or one's values and community. It veers inspirational and motivating at several points based on this. There are several points where I was surprised as something of a He wanted to do interesting things that were fun and challenging to him, earn an appropriate reward, and then move on.
I take as given that the successes and author's contribution to them are highlighted and the mistakes minimized, which at least makes for a good story. An autobiographer can't minimize their own mistakes that they do not recognize, however. Role models are a bad idea in general. Humans are humans and come with weirdness and flaws. We're all just trying to do our own thing and not be an example for others. There are a few really discordant notes if you were looking for a role model, however, and those notes are part of the key, and A.C. clearly is positioning himself as something of a role model by the final chapters. So, let's look at these. They aren't surprising: racism, sexism, and systemic bias.
The most glaring one is that the equation of success presented of hard work, clever ideas, and surrounding oneself with solid other men is missing some important terms. A.C. receives loans from his family and banks, is a white man with athletic success (in the early 1900s America), and goes to Yale. I don't think he would have succeeded without his equation, but he also would likely have not succeeded without these other elements. He is clearly oblivious to this, and his good works as presented in the book conspicuously fail to include those that might level the playing field for others. This is not unexpected early in his career, but an obvious omission by the end when he is reflecting back on more than half a century and the makings of a man and company. The only non-white person mentioned in the book is a Native fellow athlete, to have his heritage mocked. Imagine writing in the 1950s and not thinking about civil rights in America enough to justify even a throwaway line, or spending semi-retirement hunting and backpacking in BC back country with zero awareness of the Native population.
Sexism is obvious, both in the notable absence of any women except for noting friends' wives as good if they uncomplainingly took care of him and went hunting or sailing and in the business itself. Regardless of what the culture of his country or class was at the time,
A.C.'s defense of running the 1936 US Olympic committee in Berlin under the Nazis is abhorrent. There is half a sentence noting some "persecution of the Jews" and that Hitler is a strange character when they meet. Ignorance veers to evil at this point. He is writing decades after the Holocaust and WWII with the benefit of hindsight. Any remotely reasonable person would reflect on this and say something to the effect of, "at the time...and yet, had we any inkling of the horrors that were to come through genocide and millions of deaths in war from this madman, of course we would have set a different course that year. I shudder at the thought that I shook hands with the man and regret that I did not have the foresight to employ my influence in athletics and business to discredit instead of support the Nazi regime on an international stage..." A.C. is instead proud of his actions in ensuring the US was present in Berlin. He considered the war an opportunity to use his manufacturing to make landmine parts instead of a terrible loss of 80M lives, including 6M civilian Jews executed their own government.
May 10, 2017
This was fun, if unfair, to read this in Donald Trump's voice. A.C. Gilbert was an Olympic gold medalist and successful businessman and inventor in the early-to-mid 20th Century. Values loyalty, views friendships through their value to his company, spends too much text providing revenue and profit amounts for all of the years of his company's existence (huge, successful, beautiful), provides non-accredited diplomas, does not consider that girls might like science or engineering, etc.
It was interesting to read the perspective of a successful American entrepreneur and CEO who greatly valued the happiness of labor. He, you know, didn't value labor UNIONS, but what he provided his factory workers gives some sense of what middle class jobs used to exist.
My primary motivation for reading this was the strong connection to New Haven and my hometown of Hamden, CT.
It was interesting to read the perspective of a successful American entrepreneur and CEO who greatly valued the happiness of labor. He, you know, didn't value labor UNIONS, but what he provided his factory workers gives some sense of what middle class jobs used to exist.
My primary motivation for reading this was the strong connection to New Haven and my hometown of Hamden, CT.
September 8, 2022
This is an autobiography of the great American inventor, industrialist, and athlete A. C. Gilbert with commentary and additions by Marshall McClintock.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable book. A. C. Gilbert, the inventor of the famous Erector set recounts his life from his boyhood in the Pacific Northwest in the closing days of the Old West to the middle of the twentieth century. His story will be of interest to any reader who is interested in American History, Athletics, Toys, Model trains, Magic, Sports Medicine, the Olympics, Hunting, Nature Photography, Conservation, Real Estate Development, and business management. All of these diverse topics make up portions of the fascinating life of Mr. Gilbert. Model train enthusiasts will enjoy reading about how Mr. Gilbert remade the American Flyer train line. There are detailed descriptions of how the trains were designed and manufactured. There are vivid descriptions of the big train layouts at the Gilbert Hall of Science in New York. Mr. Gilbert’s explanation of how he operated a large and successful industry in a personal manner will be of interest to the business student. The sportsman will thrill at the description of hunting big game in Alaska and British Columbia with rifle, camera, and movie camera. Mr. Gilbert’s book would be a worthy addition to any collection of biographies of great Americans.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews