Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Read the Excellent Adam Smith Review (annual)

The 3rd issue of the Adam Smith Review, edited by Vivienne Brown, Professor of Intelelctual History, Open University, was published in 2007. I have only just received a copy because Adam Smith’s Lost Legacy (Palgrave) was reviewed by Professor E. J. Harpham (University of Texas at Dallas) and the practice of the ASR is to allow authors a response. (It was a fair review, of which critical parts I accepted.)

My reason for posting on this is because it was only a short time earlier I managed to get a copy of the 2nd issue, to which I shall comment enthusiasticaly in the next post. When I heard about the first issue of the ASR I acquired a copy via Amazon (very expensive it was too at over £100). I discovered that if you joined the International Adam Smith Society (IASS) as part of your annual subscription you received the ASR at a heavily discounted price.

That’s when my trouble began. You have to pay via Pay Pal (US). That’s when I clashed with the ‘system’. In the midst of transferring about £20, Pay Pall changed its ‘system’ and required British customers to use Pay Pal (UK). My money got lost somewhere; I had sent it to the wrong address and I could not retrieve it. Then followed several emails of the spam type seeking details. I gave up as it looked insecure.

Now be clear, readers, I buy many books a year via Amazon US and UK, and pay via the card systems in place. I have never had any trouble at all.

I have tried to no avail to join the IASS via round-about methods to get round this Pay Pal fiasco. Last year I had similar trouble registering with the 35th Annual Conference of the History of Economics Society and was ‘saved’ by its excellent administrative staff to avoid Pay Pal and use a credit card.

This problem presently is holding up my making a cash donation to the 2008 Summer School at GMU for Young Scholars. Why disrupt a world-wide perfectly functioning Visa/Master Card system by insisting on adopting Pay Pal?

So, while I strongly recommend to you both the IASS and the ASR as essential tools of a student of Adam Smith I cannot help you acquire the reviews, except via Amazon. They are well worth the money – get your library to order them unless you have Pay Pal. Your students and colleagues will benefit enormously (see next post)

The International Adam Smith Society is contacted via: www.adamsmithsociety.com or via Aaron Garrett (garrettnecessary AT gmail DoT com)

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