Author Description

Paul Bradley, a smart, well educated, computer software engineer has just gotten a divorce, sold the farm and, at forty, is starting back to medical school. He has been asking and continues to ask some of life's big questions. Like what is the point of all this struggle for existence anyway and how does the universe really work, spirituality-wise. His friend Bob is a somewhat scruffy-looking computer scientist that used to work with Paul. In appearance, he gives the general impression that he would be just as at home standing on the median divider of a highway holding a cardboard sign reading "Will Compute for Food." He is an information junkie and has expertise in just about all of the sciences and most brands of meta-physics, having been a Zen Buddhist earlier in his life. He has spent much of his life in search of higher awareness, including the use of various psychoactive chemical accelerants. In Paul's case, Bob provides three essential services: 1. Pointing out possibly useful areas for spiritual seeking, i.e., what things to poke around at next to optimize the process 2. Adjusting Paul's consciousness when necessary--occasionally involving awareness-altering substances 3. Letting Paul know when, because of his inherent left-brained look at the world (like having the sensitivity of an anvil), he had missed a subtle nuance of some kind. The story begins with Paul starting naturopathic medical school in Portland, Oregon. He is immediately attracted to another medical student, Laura, a woman of southern persuasion who is the same age as Paul. She is beautiful and a good match for him intellectually. Laura has a wonderfully funny personality but when crossed, takes no prisoners. The attraction between Paul and Laura continues to grow stronger through the four years of school together. Every chapter contains at least one medical myth that is shattered by the philosophy of naturopathic medicine. Usually they are examples of finding the actual causes of the health pr