PREPOSTEROUS PAPA.

By Lewis Meyer'34. Cleveland: World Publishing Company, 1959. 214 pp.

Webster defines preposterous as "contrary to nature, reason, or common sense; irrational, absurd, nonsensical, monstrous." Although Max Meyer is a rather phenomenal character, I felt all along that he knew very much what he was doing. He was a kind of human dynamo bursting with energy in all directions and enjoying life to the full.

Perhaps the author, Lewis Meyer, did not realize while he was writing the book, how well he was drawing the character of his mother, who was the one force that could control the irresistible Max.

This is a book well written, and a fine tribute to an extraordinary individual who came to Sapulpa, Oklahoma, in 1906 and more or less made it his own. He was no fool, Max Meyer; he bought land against everybody's advice which later turned out to be land rich in oil. When the government was paying farmers for not planting crops, Max Meyer got paid for not planting crops he never had any intention of planting.

His retail business was successful in a kind of a "preposterous" manner. When the Ku Klux Klan invited this Jewish gentleman to join, he was able to persuade them that this organization wasn't for decent men, and they resigned the next day. During the McCarthy hysteria, I have it on good authority that Sapulpa burned certain books frowned upon by the late. Senator from Wisconsin. I am reasonably sure that Max Meyer regarded this with the same baleful eye that he regarded the Klan.

The book is full of humorous episodes, and Mr. Meyer succeeds extremely well in presenting his father clearly and with great affection. There is much more in this book than a picture of a human geyser spreading himself all over Oklahoma. There is also an amusing and, I suspect, most accurate picture of Oklahoma since 1906. It is a state I have a lot of affection for, as I have many friends there, and I personally thank the author for making it relive again in my memory. I hope some day I may meet the fabulous Max.