Like a Moth: A Life of Seeking and Software

During one of my business trips to Japan I was treated to a big dinner event at a fancy Tokyo restaurant. A dozen Japanese executives were there. At some point, after several rounds of drinks, I asked the senior Sumitomo executive if he could tell a joke. The room grew quiet. The executive stood up, whiskey glass in hand, and said, "In my youth I had time and health but I had no money. In my middle age I had health and money but I had no time. Now I am old, I have money and time but I have no health."
This little joke has given me a neat way to organize all the little episodes that make up the story of my life. In Part 1, the first 25 years of my life, I grew up in the counterculture of the 1960's, searching for truth and trying to have as much fun as possible. In Part 2, the next 40 years, I was a serial entrepreneur working crazy hours and building two very successful tech companies. And now I'm in Part 3, where I have enough time and remaining health to do things like writing this book.
It's all here. From out-of-body experiences to boardroom battles, from cross country hitchhiking to developing one of the first world's spreadsheet programs, from Ouija boards to road racing to high-stakes business drama. And from West African drumming to Chinese books, adventures in India, and mountain climbing.
"Sun and shower, wind and rain, in and out the window like a moth before a flame."
This book is available as a premium full-color paperback, a less expensive black-and-white paperback, and also as an ebook.