ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I, like most of you, hardly ever read the acknowledgment portion of a book. When I bought a book, I just wanted to get to the meat of the thing and see what I could drag out of it—either intellectually or entertainment-wise—and couldn’t give a care about what the author thought about those who helped put it all together. Then, of all things, I wrote a book.

Now, I read the acknowledgments section of every book I purchase. Why? Because having gone through the trials and tribulations of writing, editing, arguing, planning, researching, rewriting, screaming at a monitor, and restarting the whole thing all over again, I understand why it’s so important. I know what it means when the writer says they “couldn’t have done it without fill-in-the-blank.” Trust me, if it’s written there, then the author truly means they couldn’t have done it without them. My fill-in-the-blanks deserve more than just a mention in an acknowledgments section, though, because they really did make it all possible, and I most assuredly couldn’t have done it without them.

My undying gratitude and heartfelt thanks go out to the entire team at McGraw-Hill Education. Tim Green originally roped me into this a few years back, and without him I would have never even thought of it. Amy Gray provided the rubber-hose beating that every author needs to finish a product like this (okay, maybe not every author, but I sure need it) and had a great sense of humor during the whole ordeal. Claire Yee, Garima Poddar, Bart Reed, Janet Walden, and I’m sure a bunch more all deserve a vacation somewhere warm and beachy—I’ll get the first round of cold adult beverages. Once again, they all provided me with the chance to do something I dearly love and were very patient with me in putting this all together.

Lastly, I can’t thank the technical editor, Brad Horton, enough. Brad makes a difficult process—technically scrubbing everything to make sure it’s all in good order—not only bearable but downright fun. His edits were spot on and were always designed to make this project the absolute best it could be. He not only pointed out corrections when I messed something up but added immeasurably to the real-world aspects of this book. I simply could not, would not, have done this without him. It’s an honor to work with him and a great blessing in my life to call him a friend.