My Years with Ludwig von Mises.pdf - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

CHAPTER XI
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ON MAY 29, 1969, Lu held his last seminar at New York University,
but that did not mean he was ready to retire. Until 1972 he
kept up his seminars at the Foundation for Economic Education,
where the intellectual atmosphere was so much to his liking.
At home he was constantly reading. Once he was asked: "Don't
you have a hobby?" "Oh yes," he replied, "reading." His studio
was his sanctuary, his books his treasures. The last thing he did at
night before retiring was to go to the bookshelves and, like a gourmet
studying the menu in a good restaurant, carefully select a book
to enrich his evening. One of the last books he read with great
interest was Louis Rougier's The Genius of·the West. He had already
read it in the original French edition, and he considered it to
be a great and valuable book.
Despite his gall bladder and hernia operations of many years
before, Lu had an excellent constitution. His was a healthy mind
in a healthy body-to the last year of his life. His eyesight was
perfect and remained so to his last days. The only thing that depressed
him was the deterioration of his hearing. He could not
participate in a general conversation, being unable to hear clearly
when more than one person talked at the same time. As a consequence
of his poor hearing he could no longer enjoy the theater.
Nevertheless, we kept up the subscription to the Metropolitan Opera
that I had given him years before. Thanks to our good seats, he
could follow the performances as attentively as before. The opera
was the highlight of his later years.
Once in a while he also listened to a chamber-music concert on
radio. When I tried to get him interested in a good television show
he said, "It would take too much of my time," and he specially
objected to listening to commentators. "I can do my thinking
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