The Man in Nagasaki: Memories and Other Recollections

The author provides glimpses of portals for discovering the wonders of the human spirit. Spanning six decades, the book reveals the excitement and personal fulfillment that comes from openness to experiences. Moving from the cold, vast isolation of Wyoming's ranching life, the author, through enduring realizations as a perceptive world traveler, emerges as a sophisticated observer of people, cultures, and aesthetics. His enthusiasm for the adventurous aspects of life takes the reader through time and space to some of the most enchanting places and exotic events in the world. Adolescent experiencing of Wyoming of the 1930's emerges into heart-warming stories about post-war Japan. A brief look into the mind of a young psychiatrist alone and frightened with a widely psychotic man blends with frightening adventures in Communist Yugoslavia and the southern Jordanian desert. A visit on the scaffolding in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel during the restoration of Michelangelo's masterpiece interplays with the richness of dance and temple life in Southeast Asia and a princely wedding in India. In the volume the narratives become a medley of serendipity, humor, telling pathos, the enjoyment of difference, and a testimony to the gifts that human encounters offer. The author's wonderment about events that happen takes him on a brief exploration of the origins and the sense of the uncanny, serendipity, and the awesomeness of spiritual experience.