This entertaining account of one man's journey through an extraordinary existence is compulsive reading. Focusing on the most memorable events spanning 50 years, these anecdotes are fascinating, funny, sad, thoughtful, and thrilling, and written with an honesty which is immensely appealing. They depict a life that began conventionally enough with school and a Medical training, but that branched out into all sorts of unexpected byways. The intelligence that can be sensed in this account is that of a person who was never going to settle for a conventional existence and who grabbed life with both hands in a desire to experience as much as possible. Even in times of sadness or setback, this writer finds resilience and has a wonderful gratitude for life. The author has a story-telling gift that cannot be learned, which lifts this autobiography above others as it requires no personal knowledge of the man or of the places and people he has written about in order to be thoroughly enjoyed.