I thank Wendy Weil, my agent; Joseph Zhuoqing Yan and Janny Xiao Qin Huang; my wife, Judy; my dear friend Mike Sahakian; and my son-in-law Jose Arenas, who did the line drawings in the book, and my daughter Erica, whose hands appear in those drawings. All of these people contributed to making this book possible. I also owe special thanks to my editor, Kathy Belden, who not only took a chance on getting this book published but who did a superb editing job. I have learned from her editing and honor the time, effort, and energy she put into helping me as I struggled to revise the text. Writing is a collective process and all of the people I have mentioned are my support group who make it possible to live through writing a book and seeing it to publication.