The author of this book has spent much of his life collecting and studying slime molds, a fascinating but understudied group of fungus-like organisms. His efforts have taken him to all seven continents and to examples of every major type of terrestrial ecosystem. The book is a chronicle of a lifelong journey that began when the author was a graduate student in a mycology class at Virginia Tech, where he was first introduced to slime molds, and continued on to an academic career that allowed him to become one of the world's leading authorities on these organisms. Along the way, the author has visited many interesting places and has interacted with most of the internationally known experts on slime molds. He the author or coauthor of 12 books and more than 470 book chapters, general interest articles and papers in peer-reviewed journals.