Writing edge
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Catch up on recent e-books and open source material published by Witsies.
The Hand Behind The Invisible Hand
By Karl Mittermaier
(Bristol University Press 2020)
Karl Mittermaier (1938 – 2016) was a member of the Economics Department at Wits University between 1967 and 2001. He was a classical liberal economist and he completed a body of work in 1986 entitled The Hand Behind the Invisible Hand: Dogmatic and Pragmatic Views on Free Markets and the State of Economic Theory. 
When Mittermaier died in 2016, the Head of Economic and Business Science at Wits, Professor Jannie Rossouw, encouraged the idea of publishing the work. After a painstaking exercise by Mittermaier’s widow, Isabella, assisted by Michael Stettler (BCom 1986, BCom Hon 1987, MCom 1992) and Christopher Torr, the manuscript was revived without any changes to the original and put forward for publication. It has contributions by Rod O’Donnell and Daniel B Klein and has relevance for ongoing debates in economics, politics, sociology and philosophy. The work has received favourable reviews from respected academics around the world:
Jochen Runde (BCom 1983, BCom Hons 1984, MCom 1987) who is Professor of Economics at Cambridge University, Judge Business School and co-editor of the Cambridge Journal of Economics, writes: “This is a magisterial work of immense erudition that will fascinate anyone interested in debates about free markets and the role of equilibrium theory.”
Nils Goldschmidt, Professor of Contextual Economics and Economic Education at University of Siegen in Germany, writes: “Karl Mittermaier was decades ahead of his time. That he acknowledged the role institutions play in social orders places him in good company among liberal thinkers; that he understood the significance of societal embeddedness in this context makes him a true pioneer.”
Open access to the book is available here.
You’re Biting My Fingers
By YRU Laffing
e-book 2020
Hiliary Kraut (BDS 1970) is a retired dentist who for 44 years drilled, filled, extracted and implanted teeth. What significantly eased the stress was the joy of writing the e-book You’re Biting My Fingers under the pseudonym YRU Laffing.
In this e-book Kraut chronicles his many interesting experiences at Wits Dental School during the late 60s and early 70s, and recounts humorous – and at times poignant – stories of the fascinating patients he encountered in his private practice. The publication’s underlying theme of “many a true word is spoken in jest” is reflected in its 21 illustrated chapters, each introduced by the title of a well-known song.
Among Kraut’s many anecdotes, he recounts the time Reg Park – English bodybuilder, businessman and actor – posed his bulging muscles to the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ of the delighted student audience at Medical School, during Professor Phillip Tobias’s annual anatomy exposition. When Prof Tobias asked his excited audience which of their favourite muscles they would like Reg Park to demonstrate, a provocative voice bellowed from the back of the Harvey Lecture Theatre: “Tell Mister Universe to drop his shorts Prof!” Prof Tobias had heard it a hundred times before over the years, but this did not prevent him from giving his boys-will-be-boys smirk.
Kraut confesses that his attitude changed notably once the captivating patients he got to know, opened their hearts to him. This is not surprising as all dentists are no more than a breath away from their patients!
Kraut lives in Johannesburg, South Africa with his wife Joyce. His two children, Romy (BA 1999; MA 2003) and Ryan (BCom 2001, BAcc 2002; MCom 2016) are both Wits graduates. He spends his time writing, gardening and reminiscing with his former Wits classmates on the CLASS OF 1970 WhatsApp group.
The e-book is available here.