Anecdotes to Dote On

For Barry Hansen, looking back in time shows him that success in life is the continuous collection of memories that make you smile. Anecdotes to Dote On is an anecdotal biography that begins with Barry’s recognition that he is only here because of a double dribble—a memory that makes him smile, which he shares now.

Anecdotes to Dote On offers you a window into Barry’s memories from boyhood through adulthood. His boyhood during World War II was highlighted by sitting for many hours in the copilot’s seat of a B-17, with occasional breaks to pretend as a bombardier, trying to focus on a Norden bombsight. Interspersed was his introduction to the making of Hollywood movies and a fascination with being in the audience of the biggest national radio shows—like watching TV before there was TV. Barry also shares his good times at college (often at the expense of his GPA) and the unexpected career path that propelled him to a fifty-year-or-so career in international cargo transport, mostly by air.

Barry’s anecdotes relate to events that he encountered, traveling to all of the world’s continents—except to the one where penguins outnumber people.