Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:
#1 I was raised on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. My parents had met in graduate school at Yale in 1931 and had taken their community organizing skills and love of music to the experimental community of Arthurdale, West Virginia, where they worked with Eleanor Roosevelt in attempting to reinvigorate a downtrodden mining community.
#2 I was home-schooled by my mother, a remarkably talented teacher. I was not aware of the concept of God, but I did have interactions with Him when I was young. I was nine when we moved in town to be with my ailing grandmother, and I entered the public schools at fourteen.
#3 I was an agnostic, meaning I didn't know whether or not God existed. I was comfortable challenging the spiritual beliefs of anyone who mentioned them in my presence, and I discounted such perspectives as sentimentality and outmoded superstition.
#4 I was about to complete my Ph. D. program, but I was also becoming more social. I wanted to contribute something to humanity, so I applied for admission to medical school. With a carefully practiced speech, I tried to convince admissions committees that this was a natural pathway for the training of future doctors.
