First Edition

To my father, who always wanted me to write a book,

My mother, who always made me feel like I could,

Melanie, who married me—the greatest stroke of good fortune of my life,

and my son, Harry, who will surely write books much better than this one whenever he wants to.

Second Edition

To my big brother, Phil, who was a mensch his whole life.

Third Edition

To all the people—from all parts of the world—who have been so nice about this book for fourteen years. Your kind words—in person, in email, and in your blogs—have been one of the great joys of my life.

Especially the woman who said it made her laugh so hard that milk came out of her nose.