My late mother was a executive secretary (old terms) in a corporate chemical engineering department [1]. She could type tables and such like a demon ... on a R

My late mother was a executive secretary (old terms) in a corporate chemical engineering department [1]. She could type tables and such like a demon ... on a Royal manual typewriter, no less. She also could knock out quite decent Gregg shorthand, and I took a stab at learning it from a textbook I picked up used somewhere. I'd pick her brains for help when the book left me hanging. I achieved a decent proficiency for a moderate effort off-hours attempt at self-instruction. It certainly required some patience and effort but I found it fairly natural and well conceived, elegant even. Someday maybe I'll pick it up again. In fifteen years it will seem like alchemy to the young'uns of the future.