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LOOSE CHANGE: JULY 21, 2019Here are some additional items in the media this week that may be of interest. -Editor
Banknotes Celebrate and Confront History
Gerry Tebben forwarded this Washington Post article on how countries use banknotes to both celebrate and confront their own history -Editor
This week, Britain announced it would place Alan Turing, a World War II code-breaker who is now remembered as a founding father of computer science and artificial intelligence, on the nation’s new 50-pound bill. Turing is, by any measure, a national hero. But his legacy has for decades had a sad ending that reflected badly upon Britain: Despite his intellect and reputation as a war hero, he died of suicide after he was convicted of engaging in homosexual activity, which was then a criminal offense in the country. Britain isn’t the first nation to try to correct its history through bank notes. Below are five other examples of currency past, present and future, that do the same. To read the complete article, see:
Giant Gold Coin Debuts on Wall Street
That giant gold coin from the Perth Mint made its way to Wall Street this week. Here's an excerpt from the Wall Street Journal along with images I got from the Perth Mints publicity folks. -Editor
The coin—with Queen Elizabeth’s profile pressed onto one side and a mid-hop kangaroo on the other—is beyond the wiles of the average pickpocket. It measures nearly 32 inches in diameter and is almost 5 inches thick. Oh, and it weighs about 2,200 pounds. (That is more than 32,000 troy ounces, for the precious-metals buffs out there.) To read the complete article, see:
Textbook Publisher Dropping Print Editions
For bibliophiles, Len Augsburger forwarded this BBC News story about how education publisher Pearson is throwing in the towel and phasing out printed textbooks. -Editor
The world's largest education publisher has taken the first step towards phasing out print books by making all its learning resources "digital first". Pearson said students would only be able to rent physical textbooks from now on, and they would be updated much less frequently. The British firm hopes the move will make more students buy its e-textbooks which are updated continually. "We are now over the digital tipping point," boss John Fallon told the BBC. To read the complete article, see:
Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum All Rights Reserved. NBS Home Page Contact the NBS webmaster 
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