PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
At 19, with a wife and a baby and no job, Bob Stock landed a spot on a weekly newspaper with an assist from Golda Meir's sister. It was the unlikely start of an improbable career of highs and lows, in and out of journalism, that, in 1967, dropped him on the doorstep of The New York Times. For the next 30 years, Stock served as an award-winning writer and editor at seven different Times Sunday sections including the Magazine, Week in Review, and Business & Financial. He wrote extensively for these sections and other parts of the paper, and created and wrote including a pioneering column about the elderly. In 1955, after five years as a reporter and editor on the Sunday staff of the Bridgeport CT Post-Telegram, Stock was hired by the Lycoming Division of the Avco corporation as a publicist. Three years later, he moved on to the American Petroleum Institute, where he edited its consumer magazine, Petroleum Today. After retiring from The Times, Stock became a freelance editor and writer, producing online essays and magazine articles, ghostwriting management books and biographies, co-authoring medical books ((Preventing Hospital Infections and Teaching Inpatient Medicine). He has had two wives and two children and has an abiding interest in sports and classical music. He resides in New York City.
"Book Review 1: In Me and The Times, the author uses his first-class narrative talent to take us on a fast and feisty ride through his years of writing and editing for multiple publications, not least The New York Times. His details and anecdotes are showstoppers, from the travels of a barrel of oil to the quirkiness of court (vs. lawn) tennis to the edginess of hours in a jammed subway car in a blackout. -- Leslie Armstrong, architect and author, most recently, of Girl Intrepid. Book Review 2: This memoir is as much an engaging book of stories as it is a chronicle of decades passed. Each chapter reads as a short story dedicated to prominent life moments of risk, defeat, or reward; combined, they read as a story of personal transformation. For those eager to see the world through the eyes and inner thoughts of others, this book is written for you. - Sanjay Saint, Chief of Medicine, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System Book Review 3: Robert Stock's journey is an impeccably written ""don't miss"" tale of following passions, follies, interests, ethics, and great news stories to the heights of professional journalism and a true insider look at what made and makes The New York Times tick. -- Paula DiPerna, environmental policy advisor and author, most recently, of Pricing the Priceless: The Financial Transformation to Value the Planet, Solve the Climate Crisis, and Protect Our Most Precious Assets."
