Author Charles E. Willingham always said he would achieve millionaire status before he turns sixty years old. At the age of fifty-nine-one day before his sixtieth birthday-Willingham achieves his lofty goal. But it was a long, hard road.

Born in 1939, Willingham grows up in Texas picking cotton, feeding chickens, and graduating at the bottom of his high school class. But he soon catapults to the big time, becoming a U.S. Air Force Cold War spy, nearly getting shot down by Russian MIGs, and landing in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the building of the Berlin Wall.

After the Cold War, Willingham creates hardware at Cal-Tech to measure the cosmic microwave fields emitted from the theoretical Big Bang, and then helps develop the country's first weather satellites at Ford Aerospace. But it is when he enters the relatively new field of computer technology that he eventually makes his fortune working for computer software magnate Bill Gates.

With a host of laugh-out-loud escapades, "In My Time" is a classic rags-to-riches story and a vivid chronicle of one man's life in the twentieth century. A rollicking rollercoaster ride around the world and back, it is also a tale of Willingham's rugged individualism and hard-earned wisdom.

CASEY JONES- EPIC OF THE AMERICAN' RAILROAD by FRED J. LEE. Originally published in 1939. FOREWORD: FRED J, LEE has given a full and correct account of the life o my husband and his friend, and it has been my pleasure to give him my unreserved cooperation and direct assistance in the preparation of the book Casey Jones. I have received many curious inquiries from all over the world and have taken part in numerous ceremonies, radio programs and dedicatory exercises in honor of my beloved husband. My chief purpose in the latter years of my life is to tell the world in every way I can how wonderfully he deserved every honor bestowed upon him in life and every honor accorded his memory since his death, 1 do not know as well as some his superior qualifications as a locomotive engineer for which he became so celebrated, but I do know that in personality, character and disposition he had no superior. It is my belief that this volume and the monument at Cayce, Kentucky, sponsored by the Hickman, Kentucky Lions Club and dedicated by Senator Alben Barkley to his memory in 1938 will be, throughout the years to come, the true permanent memorials to Casey Jones. INTRODUCTION: THERE is a wide difference between the saturated steam locomotives of the late nineteenth century and the sleek aluminum, streamlined Diesel and electric engines of today capable of developing speeds up to two hundred miles per hour j but the technique, methods and personalities of the earlier romantic period com prise an essentially important and extremely interesting chapter in the history of the American railroad. From the vast army of workers who were responsible for the actual operation and maintenance of the railroad inthe nineties one name has arisen that will survive in memory as long as the railroad in any form exists. It radiates the spirit of romance and adventure inherent in the American railroad. That name is Casey Jones. There must be some fundamental vital element in any ballad that is accepted as a folk song* The element assumes additional weight and significance when the hero of the ballad was a real living human being. It was such a person who inspired the song that has been sung around the world. The author has gone to every known available source in order that historical accuracy might be pre servedj and has spared no pains to follow every clew that promised to throw light upon the life of Casey Jones, the man. Whenever possible, every story con - cerning him has been verified, and nothing of doubtful authenticity has been retained. An exact chronology has been followed, and although the story is told in fictional form care has been taken not to color the related incidents more than the known facts warranted. The purpose has been to recreate the scenes and make them live again. Most of the characters arc or were real persons, with whose names no liberties have been taken. It is only when names have been for gotten and no known record of them was to be found that fictitious names have been substituted. ...

RECALCULATING: Travels Along the Road Through Crisis is offered as comfort for the faithlessly faithful who frequently doubt they will find their way through life's challenges. Although Amy Dempsey had a strong family history of breast cancer, she was still shocked to receive the same news. Her direction soon changed again when her beloved brother, Garry, was diagnosed with ALS.

Their detours became roads to places where many beliefs were tested and large and small lessons were learned; for example, keeping a hairdresser or a medical professional calm is definitely in a person's best interest- anyone with scissors, a knife, or a needle is not the person to aggravate.

Support from others always provided the fuel needed to keep Amy on the right road. Joyful events were never diminished despite the difficulties and sorrows during these two years. Leaving a brother suffering in a nursing home on his fifty-fifth birthday was painful; however, her youngest child's performance at theater camp that same weekend was a blast Writing about many contrasts helped bring clarity to emotions and a balance to life in this intimate memoir.

Uncle Tungsten radiates all the delight and wonder of a boy's adventures, and is an unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary young mind. Oliver Sacks evokes, with warmth and wit, his upbringing in wartime England. He tells of the large science-steeped family who fostered his early fascination with chemistry. There follow his years at boarding school where, though unhappy, he developed the intellectual curiosity that would shape his later life. And we hear of his return to London, an emotionally bereft ten-year-old who found solace in his passion for learning. 'If you did not think that gallium and iridium could move you, this superb book will change your mind' - The Times

This is the abbreviated life story of William C. Weaver, aka Wa Dok, who was an aquatic toxicologist. One day his mother took him to the kitchen and turned on the tap water, grabbed a glass and said, "Billy, most of the people in the world cannot do what I just did. They get their water the hard way, from a river, or hand-drawn well, and many times that water is dirty, and it can make them sick or even kill them. We are so lucky to have water right out of the tap that won't harm us or kill us."

Sixty years later, this is still true. Measured by our water supply, as compared to most of the world, we look pretty good. Water is the most basic need for life to exist on earth. As we use our water, and fail to clean it up, the use of dirty water to keep our bodies hydrated, and our crops growing, will surely come home to roost. This is especially true as we let our children ingest all sorts of hidden poisons, assuming, as we are likely to do, that our water is safe and clean. In The Road Ends in Water, Weaver relates the many adventures his testing experiences provided.

This book is a collection of true short stories and anecdotes that happened to me over the course of my life. As a college student at the University of Alabama, I witnessed turbulent times during the historical "Civil Rights Era."

My professional career as a geologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers involved ten years on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, as well as interesting assignments in foreign countries.

This book should appeal to geologists, "baby boomers," and anyone interested in true stories about growing up in the '50s, college life in the '60s, and years of adventures as a "wayward" geologist.

John Craig Shaw

Brent admired the chimpanzee he sketched at the zoo. He regarded the animal as contemplative. He was unaware that similar animals in the wilds of Africa were the source of a virus that would lead to his death from AIDS. Brent became infected with HIV from the medicine he infused to treat his hemophilia. At six months of age, his parents were alarmed when they discovered bruises on his chest which led to the discovery of hemophilia. From that moment forward, he received frequent intravenous infusions of concentrate to treat recurrent bleeding episodes. Infusions of the medicine relieved pain and suffering from bleeding. His life seemed normal. Unexpectedly, Brent's life changed after the discovery of HIV contamination of the medicine. The medicine was manufactured from the plasma of paid blood donors. Unbeknownst to Brent, the plasma was polluted with HIV. The SIV in chimpanzees changed to become HIV in humans. But the chimpanzees were not the cause of the transfer of SIV in animals to HIV in humans. The change from SIV in animals to HIV in humans was the result of human activity. The change came about with the production of the hepatitis B vaccine. Who was responsible for the pollution of the hemophilia medicine with HIV and hepatitis viruses? Was Brent's death preventable?

When American explorers crossed the Texas Panhandle, they dubbed it part of the ""Great American Desert."" A ""sea of grass,"" the llano appeared empty, flat, and barely habitable. Contemporary developments - cell phone towers, oil rigs, and wind turbines - have only added to this stereotype. Yet in this lyrical ecomemoir, Shelley Armitage charts a unique rediscovery of the largely unknown land, a journey at once deeply personal and far-reaching in its exploration of the connections between memory, spirit, and place. Armitage begins her narrative with the intention to walk the llano from her family farm thirty meandering miles along the Middle Alamosa Creek to the Canadian River. Along the way, she seeks the connection between her father and one of the area's first settlers, Ysabel Gurule, who built his dugout on the banks of the Canadian. Armitage, who grew up nearby in the small town of Vega, finds this act of walking inseparable from the act of listening and writing. ""What does the land say to us?"" she asks as she witnesses human alterations to the landscape - perhaps most catastrophic the continued drainage of the land's most precious resource, the Ogallala Aquifer. Yet the llano's wonders persist: dynamic mesas and canyons, vast flora and fauna, diverse wildlife, rich histories. Armitage recovers the voices of ancient, Native, and Hispano peoples, their stories interwoven with her own: her father's legacy, her mother's decline, a brother's love. The llano holds not only the beauty of ecological surprises but a renewed realization of kinship in a world ever changing. Reminiscent of the work of Terry Tempest Williams and John McPhee, Walking the Llano is both a celebration of an oft-overlooked region and a soaring testimony to the power of the landscape to draw us into greater understanding of ourselves and others by experiencing a deeper connection with the places we inhabit.

"I found it (the story) at first sad and tragic, all the more to be uplifted by its outcome. What better ever proof of a miracle, of the value of family support, of the power of faith, of the hand of God, of the unpredictability of life. All in all it's a wonderful piece to read. What's more, you make readers care, because the woman (Jane Williams) and her family, including the convincing and articulate narrator, Dr. Henry, become real people in readers' minds, people they know well enough to worry about, to cheer for. I came to feel, thanks to Dr. Joel Hilaire's sharp and rich writing, that I was one of those people, close to the family, involved in every down-and-up event. To my mind you achieved exactly what you were after with this extensive true-to-life story."--Lou Fisher, from Long Ridge Writers Group

Author Dr. Nelly Maseda often wonders how she became successful, but her brothers didn't. She wonders how she survived a childhood raised by a single Dominican mother on public assistance who suffered from severe mood swings, rage, promiscuous sexual behavior, and cycles of depression. While Maseda pursued her degree at Cornell University, her brothers and cousins entered into a world of substance abuse and its related criminal activities and violence.

In Strangers in the Night, Maseda looks inside the dynamics of a family and describes the life of her mother, Nena-her early years in the Dominican Republic, immigration to the United States in 1959, her new life in New York City, and raising her children against the backdrop of rage, depression, and a questionable home life. She also shares the trajectory of her two brothers' lives to show that lessons can be learned from their experiences.

Maseda tells her mother's story from the perspective of her profession as a pediatrician to communicate to patients and others that we now live in a time where help exists to undo the damage that negative, early life experiences can do to minds and lives.

Jada Patrice Howard captures the ups and downs of her life in "Through These Eyes," the second volume of her memoir. This heartfelt, personal tale recalls her journey through the life experiences she has had in recent years.

She recounts her joy at finally being chosen to attend a live taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago. Follow her as she prepares for the trip of a lifetime, traveling from Washington, DC, to Chicago to attend the show; share her delight as she has the time of her life at Oprah's show.

She also shares tales of her work as a school bus driver, her brief move to North Carolina to help family members, and her attendance of Dr. Dorothy Height's funeral.

"Through These Eyes" explores the nature of people and their relationships and relates experiences of happiness, sadness, joy, and pain-life experiences that we can learn from.

Thomas Addison, a physician from the North of England, was acutely ill, and he knew it. The profession of medicine had been his life. Students and patients flocked to Guy's Hospital in London because he taught and worked there. He had no rival in Britain during the early Victorian era.

Addison taught his students that most people resisted new ideas even when society benefitted from them and that people were unwilling to admit the merits of a great discovery. This would prove to be true particularly in the case of his own discoveries. Addison weathered five years of scorching criticism from his peers when he discovered that the adrenal glands were essential to life and that diseased adrenal glands could darken a white person's skin to mulatto hues. In the end, he experienced an unshakable depression that ultimately led to suicide.

Medical science subsequently validated Addison's ingenious discoveries, which led other investigators to isolate and identify epinephrine, the adrenocortical steroids, and even vitamin B12.

In this biography, author Margaret R. O'Leary, MD, presents Addison's life story, considering his reception during his lifetime and recognizing his profound contributions to modern medicine.

In 1978, Cindy Kunzendorf discovered that she had Hodgkin's Disease. Over the next thirty years, she would go through three different bouts of cancer, surviving every one. Her family memories and her appreciation of how precious life is helped her through this difficult time in her life. She was able to turn her experience into a positive one. During these tough times, Cindy met two amazing women, Kandi Kaliher and Diana Marks, who both suffered from the same disease. Kandi taught Cindy the importance of sacrifice and kindness on a daily basis, while Diana helped to teach Cindy about life and how it should be lived. Although such a terrible ordeal brought them together, the three women found strength in a positive and fulfilling friendship. Cindy Kunzendorf lives in Chicago, Illinois where she is the General Manager of a Pharmacy operation for a National Home Infusion company. Working with patients sent home from the hospital that need intravenous medications, she manages all aspects of care they receive. She has been writing poetry for family and friends for the past ten years, but was inspired to write this novel after the death of her best friend. Finding Rainbows is the true story of her battle with Hodgkin's Disease.

The controversial Emanuel Revici, M.D., made the bones grow back in cancer patients, and restored health to AIDS patients as well as drug addicts and alcoholics. His medicines lifted debilitating migraines in as little as 3 minutes. Revici's reward? He was attacked and ostracized by the best. JAMA published false reports about his work. The American Cancer Society blasted him time and again. Meanwhile, word of mouth brought new patients to see him for decades. The smears didn't work, so something more needed to be done. This is the true story of the greatest medical scientist who has ever lived. Find out what happened to Dr. Revici and find out how you can use the principles of his discoveries to reverse even advanced cancers and many other illnesses. The final chapter provides current contact information for the Revici Clinic.