If you are looking for something different in subject, form, and style, this is it. This is a cross between literary nonfiction and memoir, a mosaic of fourteen unbelievable human experiences spanning continents and oceans, from WWII until the present times. In these stories, some hilarious some profoundly sad, crazy scientists and sailors, artists, musicians and soldiers, entrepreneurs, programmers, and dedicated Boy Scouts survive difficult conditions and achieve amazing things without losing their spirits and sense of humour. The book is about everything that can happen in human life except for romance. If you are looking for a great-love story, check the author's novel On Moving Mountains, which is about two programmers who are in love and, for them, life is beautiful even when the entire world is collapsing around them.