The doctors said I had two years to live. Lab results had confirmed multiple myeloma, a fatal bone marrow cancer.
I had four children aged eight, five, and twin sons aged six months. Certain that I was going to die before my kids grew up, I wanted them to know my life story. I began writing my autobiography.
Fortunately, the doctors were wrong. The cancer went into remission and I’ve thrived for decades. During this time, the typed manuscript (that’s how old this was) languished in a binder on my bookshelf. I never shared it with my kids because I didn’t want them to try the dangerous and crazy things I did in my adolescence and early adulthood.
Like what? Although my kids knew I’d had successful careers in nuclear weapons testing and international business, they didn’t know that I’d hopped freight trains across America and received two presidential deferments from the Vietnam draft. They also didn’t know about my stint of hanging out as a surfer dude in Hawaii, thumbing my way throughout Europe, or living in ashrams in India and Oregon.
To an onlooker, a life of such contrasts seems illogical, disjointed, and chaotic. But to me, every step has been logical, connected, and true to ongoing personal forces. Because I’ve had one goal: to experience as much variety in life as possible
Once my children were grown and launched into successful careers, I realized that they still didn’t understand all the aspects of their dad: that they don’t “know” me. I decided to publish my manuscript. Called The Rock Shall Dance; the book has just been released by Richter Publishing LLC.
The Rock Shall Dance recounts both my conventional and divergent pursuits. On the traditional side I was an Eagle Scout and graduated from Princeton (BSE), University of New Mexico (MSE), and Stanford (MBA). Because of my business career, I lived in four foreign countries. In contrast, my unorthodox pursuits include impersonating a priest, being accosted at gunpoint by the Yugoslavian Navy while sailing near the Adriatic seaside home of then-president Josef Tito, detonating underground nuclear weapons from the control room at the Nevada Test Site, and crewing at international yachting regattas.
While editing The Rock Shall Dance for publication, I realized that the book was more than just my memoir. It also provides my inside looks at crucial and often controversial events of the late 20th century: 1960s anti-war protests on the Stanford University campus, 1970s revolution and shadowy business dealings in Iran and Saudi Arabia, and 1980s spiritual quests with Rajneesh/Osho, the guru beloved by some and reviled by others.
I invite you to follow my journey. The Rock Shall Dance is available on Amazon.
Copies are available for reviews to be placed on my Amazon website and other outlets. Contact me at [email protected].
