James W Guthrie

All about Me: Society, Serendipity, and Self, Volume 1 James W Guthrie

This is a book about life. Well, still not exactly right. It really is a book about MY life. I hope that, at least in a small way, this book about my life can influence your life. I apologize ahead of time if this is too presumptuous or over zealous a goal. About this Book The book has six major sections, each with a different theme. There sections contain a total of twenty chapters, each an essay about a facet of my life. With one exception, I have consciously avoided writing a chronological autobiography. I have refrained from such a format for fear that it would be boring and not be of much value. The exception is Chapter sixteen, in which I recount chronologically the many locations and houses in which I have resided throughout my life. Book contents include a number of real life vignettes and anecdotes. I have tried to recount all of these straightforwardly, as I recall the individuals, instances and incidents being described. If I have made factual mistakes, they are honest ones. Where I express feelings, these are mine, and I know they are real. Little here is whitewashed. I am striving for more than self-serving pap. However, upon the advice of numerous family members and friends, I have seldom engaged in detailed criticisms of individuals still living. This had led, in places, to excising paragraphs and entire pages from an original manuscript. However, miraculously, the act of simply writing my criticism, some quite caustic, sufficed to heal whatever hurt I had held.