This is the black and white interior illustrations edition. Alec Noble was an observant child and used what he learned from others to become a success. At a young age he witnessed his parents' struggle to make a living on the prairie of Alberta after leaving a relatively easy life in the Russian railroad town of Harbin, Manchuria. He worked hard on the farm when his father had to take a job in town to make ends meet. He watched his parents start over after losing the farm in the Depression. Moving from a Russian- and Chinese-speaking progressive city to a new land with a new language and a new alphabet and only a few families living on scattered farms was an adventure to a six-year-old. Walking miles to school through several feet of snow was not a cliche to Alec; it was his life for a number of years. When Alec moved from his one-room schoolhouse on the prairie to a high school in bustling Vancouver, he never really caught up. But that didn't stop his forward momentum. He used his boundless energy, innate intelligence and optimism to climb to the top; spending his entire career with Canadian Pacific Rail and Air divisions. Alec's life included many adventures: a crash landing on the beach of an Aleutian Island while serving as an aerial photographer in WWII; an earthquake in Mexico City; taking part in negotiations with OPEC during the 1970s fuel crisis. Alec enjoyed spending his off time with his wife and family, Springer Spaniels, and camping and fishing in beautiful British Columbia."