Don Klein

Broschiertes Buch

Don't Stop Me Now! I'm Having Such a Great Time

Beschreibung

This memoir follows the life of Dr. Don Klein from his growing up normal in Hartford, CT, to college at UCONN, Dental school at Temple Univ. and a successful rock band for about 4 years at each venue. Next, a stint in the USAF with a year in Vietnam in which Capt. Klein connected with a squadron of career pilots that enabled him to fly all over Asia on Catch 22 boondoggles. After he returned home to CT, he he was not ready to settle down so went off to Europe, bought a delivery van and drove around for 4 months picking up stray travelers and ending up in Israel. Returning to CT, still in his 20s, he began plans for a major expedition by Land Rover north to south across Africa with a girlfriend. It was during that adventure from London to Cape Town that he crossed the Sahara Desert. In West Africa he came close to a near death with lions when he went to take a pee at night. In Zaire he changed the date on his visa and came close to being found out by authorities. His Vietnam buddy stationed in Germany flew to Nairobi and joined Don around the game parks of East Africa. In Mozambique he shipped his Land Rover to Rio de Janeiro where it was impounded by customs who wanted $50,000 for its release. With two new partners he drove the Land Rover through South America, over the Andes in winter, disregarded the currency exchange rule in Chile under Allende and thought they could drive up and into the ruins at Machu Picchu. They also thought they could drive from Colombia into Panama not knowing about the Darien Gap. On the positive side, because of that geographic error, Don was introduced to the writing of Gabriel Garcia Marquez--whom he would eventually meet in the author's home in Mexico City. Incidentally Don also hung out with the writers Ken Kesey, Paul Bowles, and the indefatigable literary agent, Carmen Balcells, who Don would meet and catalog her private collection of 30,000 Garcia Marquez books--between lecturing on cruise ships.

Autor

Dr. Don Klein is a lecturer whose expertise and interests include Latin American history and culture. Don's historical focus concerns Spanish and Portuguese voyages of discovery and expansion--in particular the exploration of the Andes, Brazil and its middle and upper Amazon River. On the cultural side, his expertise extends to the architecture, ethnology, music and literature of South America and the Caribbean--with emphasis on Brazil, the Amazon and the Panama Canal. Don is a veteran traveler with over 40 years experience on 7 continents. In the early 1970s, he flew to England, purchased a Land Rover, and spent a year driving from London to Cape Town, So. Africa. He then shipped his vehicle to Brazil and drove from Rio de Janeiro over the Andes to San Francisco, California. Don admits that this two-year epic journey was a lifestyle change. Among the changes: moving to San Francisco, where he honed his musical skills playing with Latin percussion ensembles, founded a not-for-profit arts organization and become an avid collector and connoisseur of 1st editions and other rare books. Beside lecturing, writing and photography for travel publications, Don is the bibliographer of Nobel Prize-winning author (1982), Gabriel García Márquez. His comprehensive work on the author was published (in Spanish) in 2003 in two volumes. Don holds a bachelors degree from the University of Connecticut in biochemistry, a D.D.S. from Temple University in dentistry and attended Cal Berkeley for Latin American Studies. Beside his many activities and interests he operated a private dental practice in San Francisco from 1978 to 1998, served in Vietnam with the U.S.A.F. with the rank of Captain, and is conversant in Spanish, Portuguese, and English. He currently resides in Hollywood, Florida.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Neil Investments Inc
• Seitenzahl: 584
• Erscheinungstermin: 22. Dezember 2021
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 230mm x 154mm x 37mm
• Gewicht: 916g
• ISBN-13: 9781667800486
• ISBN-10: 1667800485
• Artikelnr.: 62921738