Special Thanks

Dedication

With much love to the Metcalfes: aunt Pam, uncle Kirby, and cousin Dustin. Pam was like a big sister to me growing up, which makes Dustin like a nephew and Kirby, like, my brother-in-law. (Y'know. Totally.) I still have unresolved issues with Pam for beating me so badly at the Archies boardgame in 1974 that I threw the board across the room instead of making my next move, but as a sign of my personal growth (and improved sportsmanship) 26 years later, I'm ready to agree to a rematch at a neutral site.

-- Rogers

Acknowledgements

In my eight prior books, I used the acknowledgements to list all the people that I "would like to thank." That phrase makes it sound as if I wanted to thank these people but have been prevented from doing so for some unspecified and possible sinister reason. That isn't the case[md]in these books, Macmillan gives me free rein to give thanks. So, I thank Macmillan, and I thank the people there who contributed so much to the book, including Mark Taber, Scott Meyers, Amy Patton, Mike Henry, Carol Bowers, Sheila Schroeder, Jessica McCarty, and Richard Baldwin, and I also thank agents David and Sherry Rogelberg. Finally, I thank my wife Mary Moewe and my sons, Max and Eli. I'm so thanking grateful to have you as my family I have trouble putting it into words -- which means a lot, because anyone who reads the rest of this 14,000-page book knows I don't normally have trouble putting things into words.

Reader Acknowledgements