Leaving school is a very big change in life. Some go off to employment of various kinds – perhaps learn a trade or do a qualification to enhance life prospects.
I was always destined for university and duly enrolled at the University of Sydney in the Economics faculty. Unlike some of my former classmates doing proper stuff like Engineering or Medicine where you actually had to do some work Economics was very loose requiring no more than about 15 hours a week at lectures and tutorials. Funny thing is I got paid more than all of them when I left.
To do well at Economics you have to read a lot. I was doing accountancy and supplementary things like law ( contracts, business law, tax law) and statistics as well. Reading stuff by Samuelson and Dornbush and Fischer on economics was positively thrilling compared to large volumes on accounting and tax law.
Paul_Samuelson.gif: Innovation & Business Architectures, Inc.derivative work: Bender235, CC BY 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons
So I didn’t – just enough to pass. In retrospect it’s clear that my uni grades were much lower than I got at high school and professional exams. Just made sure I handed essays in on time and boned up a bit for the exams.
The lecturers were generally good but a rum lot.
My first year Economics lecturer opened proceedings by asking for the doors to the theatre to be closed as “the real world has no place in here”. He also offered a pass to anyone who could throw a paper aeroplane from the back of the theatre and land it in the waste paper bin next to him. Everyone loved him – one of the girls in the year below me went so far as to regularly express this in physical terms.
I did his courses for all three years. Mostly because he was teaching stuff I liked but it was always a good laugh. Towards the end of 3rd year it started getting a bit out of hand. People making paper aeroplanes out of concert posters ripped the wall. These things were about 3 feet long and required two hands to launch them. If the point hit you in the nape it could do serious damage.
On the last lecture some guys had donned raincoats and stolen fire extinguishers. The water fight was quite astonishing. I got soaked having been unaware of the upcoming event.
The Statistics lecturer walked in on the first day and said:
“I will be the best lecturer you ever have because this is such a boring subject they provide someone who can keep you awake”
One of the law lecturers ( another one I really liked) we took to the pub on the last day of courses in 3rd year. By mid afternoon he was so pissed he was shouting “It’s the filth” every time a police car went by. One of my mates vomited on the table so we eventually had to decamp.
It was a great time but the reduction from school hours meant I had a lot of time to indulge my reading habit.
How did I use this?. Well not by reading the set texts that’s for sure.
It was an odd mix in fact.
I read War and Peace and Crime and Punishment but I also kept on with my old favourites like Smith, King and Ludlum.
F. W. Taylor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
I used to frequent a used bookshop and pick up a lot of science fiction stuff for 25 cents a go. My relationship with science fiction books has always been slightly strange. Haven’t really read any for at least 30 years. Back then though I read a lot – the old classic guys like Leinster, Simak were favourites but I also enjoyed people like James Blish, Jack Vance, Robert Heinlein, Jack Chalker, Piers Anthony and Robert Silverberg.
Patti Kinlock, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Personal grooming was not often a strong point
They’re nearly all gone now but I think Silverberg and Anthony are still knocking around although they are old.
A funny time for my reading. Despite my foray into Russian classics in retrospect it was three years of treading water.
What else was I doing in those years?
Playing football and halfway through I started playing indoor cricket. The latter I was really good at – much better than the outdoor version. We were all just little more than kids, won titles at three different centres and played against people from the state and national sides. Knew so many good cricketers at the time. I stopped a bit after I finished university because didn’t have the time to do it properly. Did a season in the Western Sydney league but with work and girlfriend it was unmanageable. Did the odd game with various work colleagues teams which was fun but they usually pestered me to play every game.
Probably the best thing I did reading wise at the time was to read a lot more current affairs stuff. I’ve previously mentioned doing the Sydney Morning Herald at school but university offered a lot more access. I was reading the Australian Business Review ( kind of like the FT without the subservience to the EU), Time, Newsweek, and other local outlets. No internet in those days so it was just what you could get your hands on. Taught me a lot.
I should give a brief mention to porno mags here. In the 80s newsagents stocked things like Playboy, Penthouse and Mayfair. If you wanted anything stronger it was a specialist outlet. I was never a great afficianado of such publications and hardly ever spent my low level of funds on them but there was a Madonna edition of both the Ps which I did. Fortunately I had a mate who did a few shifts at a paper shop so on the very odd occasion I could complete a transaction without undue embarrassment.
My mother discovered the Madonna ones and arriving home one day I was told there’s some rubbish you need to get rid of.
It was a bit of a wasted time though and I don’t think I really started reading properly again for 7 or 8 years after
© ArthurDaley 2026
