Chapter 19: Mushrooms and Me In my 40’s, I acquired a hobby, looking for and studying wild mushrooms. This became a serious avocation, enough to make me want to write a book, “In The Company of Mushrooms”, which was published by Harvard University Press in 1997. Why not share bits... Continue reading

Chapter 5: What to Be and What Not to Be No sooner had I arrived in Quito that I had to deal once again with questions of identity, as if I hadn’t had enough of this. I had already assumed a bunch of identities: I had been an Italian, a... Continue reading

Chapter 3: Exodus We left Italy September 1940 going by ship from Genoa to Barcelona. The passage wasn’t very long, perhaps two days and nights, and, in our case, was uneventful. However, when we arrived in Barcelona we got a scare. The Spaniards were not letting in any males under... Continue reading

Preface In one’s crepuscular (now, that’s a word I’ve never used before) phase of life, writing memoirs seems mandatory. Actually, I wrote these some ten years ago, but I was already reaching old age then. My apologia pro labore mea relies on my belief that my first twenty or so... Continue reading

Chapter 17: Gainesville Reality then set in and I had to find a job, which I did at the newly founded medical school of the University of Florida in Gainesville. Just the thing after Copenhagen! The Chamber of Commerce had sent us a brochure. Among the restaurants prominently listed was... Continue reading

Chapter 15: The Army I got a student deferment from military service as soon as I came to the U.S. in 1950. The Korean War lingered, so the draft was still in effect by the time I got my Ph.D. in 1954. No more deferments. A few months later I... Continue reading

In the following chapters, I continue my attempts at writing my memoirs. For their critical reading, I thank Erin Koppel, Tony Summers, and Merry Youle, and Risa Stiegler. They helped me greatly. I also thank Risa for skillfully carrying out the layout and posting and her caring advice. Chapter 13:... Continue reading