Prof. recalls Depression in memoir

An autobiographer illuminated intimate details of life in the Depression era at a book signing for his new memoir Wednesday.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Ford Professor Emeritus of Engineering Ronald Probstein read portions of his new book about his Manhattan childhood, ‘Honest Sid: Memoir of a Gambling Man’ to about 15 students, professors, and former colleagues at the Boston University Barnes and Noble Bookstore.

Probstein’s father, known as ‘honest Sid,’ was a gambler and a bookie, placing bets on horse races to put food on the table. Probstein impersonated Sid with a strong New York accent.

Probstein discussed his encounters with notorious gangsters and gamblers. When the author was five, his father ‘Sid’ brought him into the betting parlors and cigar shops where the ‘horse game’ took place, Probstein said.

In the excerpt, he described being fascinated as a young boy after watching men dressed in suits and fedoras recorded payoffs from horse races.

Though the book is primarily about his father, Probstein said his mother was ‘the glue that held the family together in the most difficult circumstances.’

He also discussed the tragedies his family experienced and how he paved a different path for himself as he grew older.

Probstein said even though Sid led a crooked lifestyle, he was a loving father and supported Probstein in all his endeavors.’

Now a professor of engineering at MIT, Probstein recalled his progression his early passion for science. This passion, he said, eventually led him to attend both New York University and Princeton University, where he studied engineering.

‘Most of us grew up thinking that we wouldn’t be too different from out parents,’ Probstein’s wife Irene said. ‘But he certainly ended up having a life very different from his father.’

Retired MIT professor and Probstein’s former colleague Howard Brenner, said he had read early drafts of the book.

‘He is extraordinary at presenting the material,’ Brenner said, adding that he hopes the book attracts the attention of younger audiences.

‘I think part of the problem is the era. There are few people left who are nostalgic enough to read it,’ Brenner said.

Brenner’s wife, Lisa, agreed that the subject matter of the book was nostalgic and described the book as a ‘juicy depiction of what the world was then.’

‘I think it would be a good book for young people to read,’ she said.

‘We thought people would be interested in hearing about a piece of history that has been mythologized,’ Barnes and Noble event coordinator Jeanne Haight said.

Haight said she thought the event would be of great interest to many students.

‘Everyone’s heard of ‘Guys and Dolls,’ but here’s someone who’s lived it,’ she said.