Searching For Robert Harrington Part 1
There is no information online about How to Successfully Meet Women in Bars or its author, Robert Harrington. The book doesn’t have an ISBN. It is a mystery.
I would like to know more about Mr. Harrington: where he’s from, his education, what research he conducted for the book, how much money he made from it, and so on. Using what little information the book provides, as well as the internet, I will track him down and interview him.
On the title page we see that HTSMWIB was published by Symphony Press, INC., which is based in Tenafly, NJ. On the next line down is the phrase “From Logic to Magic.” Perhaps From Logic to Magic is a series of books about meeting women? “Logic” being the tools you learn from the books and “Magic” being sexual intercourse with a woman?
I google “Symphony Press Tenafly.” There is no website for the publishing house. Some outdated directory pages have it listed, but they don’t supply any pertinent information on Symphony.
The last result on the first results page is from Google Books. It’s a page from The Nick Tosches Reader. According to Wikipedia, Tosches is a rock n’ roll journalist who’s written for Creem, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. He’s also written biographies of Jerry Lee Lewis and Dean Martin, among other figures. The Nick Tosches Reader is a collection of his work that was published by Da Capo Press in 2000.
I click on the link.
It takes me to the first page of Chapter 62, which is called How to Pick Up Girls in Alabama. The pertinent passage is: “For some years now, certain bookstores in New York City have been selling, quite steadily, a paperback guide entitled How to Pick Up Girls. Symphony Press in nearby Tenafly, New Jersey, offers an entire line of mail-order books that are ‘exclusively devoted to helping you do better with girls.’”
Just as I suspected, HTSMWIB is part of a series. But perhaps it was only sold through the mail. After all, it doesn’t have an ISBN or a barcode.
I google “How to Pick up girls book.” Turns out, its title is actually How to Pick Up Girls!, with an exclamation point. Its subtitle is: The fool-proof guide to meeting women without a formal introduction. The author? Eric Weber. That name rings a bell. Of course: Eric Weber is listed (perhaps as the publisher?) on the title page of HTSMWIB. A crack in the case.
Things to consider: Who is Eric Weber? Could he lead me to Harrington? Will I need to spend time in Tenafly to truly understand this book?
