I have many passions in my life and have written eighteen published books about them, including the fields of alternative building, sauna, mortgage freedom, world travel and megalithic stone raising. My autobiography links these passions into a personal history: beginning with childhood, finishing in the present day ... and speculating on the future Henry David Thoreau asks every writer for "a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives; some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land." I've tried to follow Henry's advice in the composition of this memoir. The quote above, from the first chapter of Walden, also provided the key words for the title and that same chapter, called Economy, helped me to remain mortgage free all of my life. So thank you, my friend.Some of the stories in Account From a Distant Land are comical, some serious, and one or two nearly tragic. But all have contributed to making me what I am and what I am yet to be. An old friend from my Scotland days once told me "Everybody's different." These two words remain the closest thing I've found to what might be universal truth. We are all products of the people we've met, the places we've been, the books we've read, and ideas we've encountered from other sources; so truth, itself, is tenuous. It is both personal and transient. One of the important lessons I've learned along life's journey is "how to take advantage of yourself." We are all something: doctor, tennis player, quilter, writer, artist, whatever. We have friends all over the world we haven't met yet. Networking is easy today. Back in the sixties, I was a competitive water skier. This passion led me to great journeys all around the planet. Another wisdom I can share - a concept based on rudimentary probability theory - is how to "cultivate coincidences" to promote good situations. And it really works. Read about it.