Practical Thoughts

Dear Reader, Forgive me! By referring to "Schumacher" and "Driving" in the title of this article you must have thought I was referring to Michael, the racing car master! No; instead I was referring to Ernst (E F) Schumacher who was a master in quite a different field and who came to fame in the 1970s with his book Small Is Beautiful  (1973). I read this seminal book in 1975, just at a time when I was taking his subject matter seriously. The following year I heard him give an inspiring talk at Euston, London. In 1977 he died. Thus his life span (1911-1977) made him a contemporary of my father (1910-1976). The two had certain but odd similarities and, therefore,  Schumacher has a special significance for me in that way, apart from the sense of his philosophy and map for man's survival. Bio: Schumacher was born in Bonn, Germany in 1911. His father was a professor of political economy. The younger Schumacher studied in Bonn and Berlin, then from 1930 in England as a