I Love You One Thousand Houses
A Memoir
by
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Nanjing, China, 1990: I successfully completed my meetings in the city on the Yangtze River and was ready to go home to Vermont. It was my fourteenth business trip to China. I was 49 years old. On the taxi ride to Nanjing Airport, where I would take a plane to Hong Kong, I was increasingly aware of the rising heat and humidity. At the airport, I had to go through a long, crowded corridor to reach the ticket counter. Many people carried cardboard boxes instead of regular luggage. There was no air conditioning. It soon felt like 115 degrees. The Chinese do not believe in lining up, here or anywhere. I waded into the pushing, shoving throng that was trying to get to the ticket counter. I spent nearly an hour struggling for breath and inching my way forward. I was sweating heavily and the stench of the crowd was overwhelming. As I got closer to the front, I wondered if I would pass out. The heat, the noisy crowd, jet lag, and lack of sleep had caught up with me. Two check-in clerks at the counter were facing countless out-stretched hands holding tickets, including my own. Everyone was screaming in Chinese. Finally, one of the clerks took my ticket. I was dizzy again. The next step was to go through passport control, which was handled by the military. I went through the procedure and gratefully stepped into an open space in the waiting room. A minute later, two military men approached and were shouting at me in Chinese. Now what? I had no idea what was going on. I was highly alarmed and again felt close to fainting. One of the men grabbed my passport. I thought they were going to lock me up. The man opened my passport and pulled out a paper form I was supposed to have already filled out. Unnoticed by me, the form had been inserted in my passport back at the control station. I worked my way over to a counter. With a shaky hand, I quickly completed the form and handed it to the military men. They took the form and abruptly left. It was finally time to board. The plane was parked in the middle of the shimmering runway. I walked unsteadily to it. I could see military fighter jets along the tarmac. Soon we were in the air. It took me about an hour to get my composure back. In other times and places, beginning when I was a child, keeping my composure was a lifelong obsession. If I lost my composure, I could not be successful. I could never let it go.
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About the Book
When I retired rich at age 55, I should have been more afraid. I was no longer a highly paid CEO in corporate America, but I had no apprehension about climbing down.
I had plenty of money, literally millions of dollars, and figured I could easily handle my transition into an exciting, fun-filled retirement. Las Vegas was calling, and Palm Springs beckoned.
Then, without warning, I was pounded with a series of lethal storms that made my remarkable ascent in the business world look easy.
After college, I had been unstoppable, rapidly climbing up, a businessman riding high on a fabulous, serendipitous winning streak.
My life was also the proverbial story of rags to riches. I had to learn how to climb out of the box of poverty and low expectations into which I was born. In my youth, I learned lessons that taught me how to cope, survive, and win in spite of vast, adversarial forces I saw and felt but never fully comprehended.
When destructive personal losses swept through my post-retirement life, the old lessons that had taken me to the top in business were useless.
I decided to revisit my entire life. I desperately needed to find the lessons I must have missed along the way.
It was a matter of life and death.
This memoir is the record of that amazing search. TITLE INFORMATION I LOVE YOU ONE THOUSAND HOUSES Preston, Donald iUniverse (204 pp.) $17.95 paperback June 11, 2009 BOOK REVIEW A retired corporate mogul details his search for meaning only to realize too late that he had it all along in the family he neglected in his single-minded quest. We all know somebody like Preston—the old classmate, cousin, co-worker who made it to the top of the company ladder. We may envy his big house and fancy cars. How the hell did he get there? In this candid memoir, a debut, Preston pulls back the curtain on his climb from the slums of Newark to the helm of an international conglomerate. Details of his early life are sketchy though chosen with care. He tells more about his ambitionless, alcoholic father than his strong, loving mother, since it was his father’s failure that fueled his own determination to succeed. Most of the memoir, like Preston’s life, centers on his career. He writes at length of the challenges he embraced juggling a dozen companies around the globe. He also tells of the pleasure he found in the cars, boats, pools and other trappings of wealth that he might still enjoy today, if not for a series of tragedies that shattered his world. Ironically, Preston’s losses—of his mother, sister, wife and millions of dollars in lousy stocks—are his readers’ gains, as they inspired his memoir. Although he ultimately expresses regret over putting business ahead of family, Preston’s words are sincere, never maudlin or preachy. He understands to show, not tell. He ends his memoir unsure where his life will lead but aiming once again for the top. Hopefully, it leads to another memoir. Wise words from a man who’s learned the hard way. EXCERPTING POLICIES Please review Kirkus Media’s excerpting policies before publishing any portion of this review online or in print for any use. To learn about proper attribution and to ensure your use is in compliance with our guidelines, we invite you to visit http://www.kirkusreviews.com/indieexcerpts. Kirkus Indie, Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Rd., Austin, TX 78744 indie@kirkusreviews.com
About the Author
Donald Preston is a retired CEO of an international corporation and resides in Prescott, Arizona. He has traveled extensively around the world. In his memoir he shares the intrigue and danger of his experiences. He recently published "The Thinking Odyssey" with Createspace and can be purchased at Amazon.com for $12.00. The non-fiction book covers the one-ness of the Universe, the ecology, science and God.