In 1931, the author, Franklin R. Ball, was born in San Diego. He grew to maturity in southern California as the middle member of a doctor's family, went to college in Utah, and did military service in Georgia, before returning to California for extended employment and recreational pursuits. He married and raised a small family before deploying to Antarctica, with his wife, in the launch of a secondary vocation. A third occupation developed in his advanced years as a volunteer master mechanic at a truck museum, again in Southern California. These callings provided enough practical and visionary exposure to give him a unique perspective for authoring engaging prose that can be recreational, even educational.
