Although quite different in terms of subject matter from what I usually read, this book was, to my mind, highly original, opening up worlds to me that I never dreamt would be deeply engrossing. This is the story of a young man researching the disappearance of an anthropology doctoral student in the middle of writing her dissertation. She has gone to study and live with one of the indigenous tribes of Thailand for that dissertation, along the way encountering a family of American Christian missionaries that have lived in the mountains of Thailand for generations. Christian missionaries are not my ideal characters for pleasure reading, but here they are wrought with such respect and psychological deftness by the author that one is painlessly pulled into their world.

In another feat of authorial pyrotechnics, the Diyalo tribe, whose customs, language and very existence the author credibly invents, provides a classroom in which the world of anthropological academe is subtly critiqued. The best praise I can give this book is to say that the plot is organic, arising from the original elements of character and plot that the author has chosen. But nothing is ever showy. Aside from that fact that the book has oblique autobiographical elements from the author, nothing in it feels labored. One of the best books I read last year. Highly recommended.

Coincidentally I received this book from the early reviewers program a few months before I went to Thailand for the first time. I visited Chiang Mai and the environs where this is set and I must say this book gave me an "anthropological eye" which added a deeper level of appreciation to the tribal people that I met. ( )

While I was taken by the dichotomy of two worlds colliding--evangelical-missionaries & cultural anthropology--I was disappointed that the author did not seem to come to any conclusions. It was a a definite winner in terms of learning about Thailand and the indigenous (albeit made up) tribe that is the focal point of the book. ( )

Very disturbing story of Martiya, an anthropologist who does her fieldwork for her doctoral thesis in a small village in northern Thailand. She becomes so charmed with this way of life that she returns to Thailand to live in her hut with the Dyalos. She ends up killing herself in a Thai prison where she is sent for murdering David Walker, missionary who converted her Dyalo lover and, therefore, changed his religion and her way of life. A reporter hears about her, visits her in prison and uncovers her story through other sources. Excellent gripping story. ( )

This highly-praised book I think receives its plaudits because of the youth of its author and because it's his first foray. Its descriptions and characterizations pass basic muster, I suppose, but it relies on sexual taboo to force the narrative forward. There just wasn't enough energy in that aspect of the plot, for me.

An anthropologist falls in love with a native Thai man and their sex relates to the rice-planting cycle. A Christian missionary comes along and converts the native man, (killjoy!) who in turn turns his back on the anthropologist. Of course, the anthropologist completes the cycle by killing the missionary.

This is not a bad read, but it is one of those inexplicably praised pieces that I just shake my head over. It's an average narrative that takes a Christian missionary to task for spreading the fetid faith. Perhaps that's why all the hubbub. Anyway, for my two cents, you're better off elsewhere. ( )

Art mirrors life in this novel of Thailand. The author's experiences in SE Asia lend rich colour to this fictional juxtaposition of a tribe of American missionaries and an independent Dutch anthropologist who clash over the future of a remote hilltribe. Beautifully written, vibrant, and entertaining, with a cast of colourful characters who keep the multi-stranded storyline tripping along. ( )

I absolutely fell in love with this book right away. Mischa Berlinski (the main character's name as well as the authors) is living in Thailand with his girlfriend. She is a 1st grade teacher and he is a journalist. He meets with a friend that tells him the story of an american anthropologist Martiya van der Leun who has been found dead in a Thai prision. She had been serving a life sentence. Mischa is hooked and decides to find out not only why she was in prison, but wants to know what happened to the bright young woman. His journey involves missionarys, friends in America and the dyalo (a hill tribe). I loved the parts with the missionary family. I found myself completely absorbed in this story. It is one of the best books I've read this year. ( )

Mischa Berlinski is a journalist; Fieldwork is his first novel. That fact makes its beautiful prose and engrossing story all the more amazing.

Fieldwork is the story of (fictional) journalist Mischa, living in Thailand while his fiance teaches English to first graders. He is making a small livng writing restaurant reviews and summaries of business textbooks, when he hears the story of anthropologist Martiya van der Leun. Martiya has committed suicide in a Thai prison, where she was serving a life sentence for murder.

Mischa becomes intrigued by Martiya’s story, and starts digging. His curiosity turns to obsession when he learns that the victim of Martiya’s murder was the son of a prominent missionary family. Mischa meets the Walker family, second and third generation evangelical missionaries living in Thailand and ministering to the Dyalo tribal people. He is fascinated by the story of these hardy people who have chosen to forsake all Western comforts and live in harsh conditions for the purpose of spreading the Gospel. He also delves into the world of anthropologists, who immerse themselves in tribal cultures for a completey different reason. The two worlds are similar, but by definition must be opposed to each other. The anthropologist’s task is to catalog and preserve tribal culture; the missionary’s goal is to convert the tribal people.

Martiya makes the acquaintance of the Walker family, and they help her by answering her questions, translating Dyalo phrases, and explaining Dyalo customs to her. So what happened to make Martiya decide to kill David, the Walkers’ son? Mischa peels back layer by layer of the mystery, and as he does, the story gets more and more enthralling, until I couldn’t put it down until I knew.

Berlinski is an extremely talented writer; his descriptions of the Thai culture and countryside are breathtaking. Part of me was waiting for the portrayal of the Walker missionary family to descend into derisive stereotype, but Berlinski gives all of his characters a humanity and authenticity that make them seem like living, breathing people. They are flawed, fascinating humans that are, above all, real. The climax of the story shows how one simple choice can bring about the most unexpected and horrific consequences.

5 out of 5 stars. ( )

In this novel, freelance writer Mischa Berlinski (yes, the protagonist has the same name as the author) is living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. One day an acquaintance tells him about a woman he had recently met in a Thai prison. Martiya van der Leun, an anthropologist, had been in the women's prison for more than a decade after being convicted of the murder of American missionary David Walker. Martiya recently killed herself in the prison. Mischa's friend suggested that Mischa might be able to sell the story to a newspaper. No one seems to know anything about Martiya or why she committed this crime. Mischa spends the next year investigating the story, seeking people who knew the victim and/or his murderer. The book is largely a character study of Martiya van der Leun, and, to a lesser extent, David Walker and his missionary family.

Martiya's character seemed more realistic to me than did David's and his family's. I am very familiar with both academics and missionaries. Martiya's academic career was believable. On the other hand, the missionaries seemed much more like the stereotypical religious zealots portrayed on television than like any of the many missionaries I know. The author carefully revealed layer after layer of Martiya's personality, and the motive for this seemingly unbelievable crime made sense. However, David Walker and the Walker family are almost as much of a mystery at the end of the book as they are at the beginning. ( )

I enjoyed this book but wasn't completely wowed by it. Berlinski's arguments in comparing a missionary and an anthropolgist's lives in rural Thailand were cogent without being didactic. The sense of place is beautifully constructed and the histories Berlinski weaves are engaging and authentic; details like David being disenfrachised with his father becase he watched Star Wars are nice. This is a strong novel and worth reading but I think the author gives too much emphasis to the "mystery" of why the murder happened when the motives are fairly obvious from the beginning. I was also a little disappointed that a chief motivation was because Martiya felt romantically jilted. All and all I think this novel succeeds as a literary meditation on travel, colonialism, and religion but fails as a mystery. ( )

Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski is a well-crafted, absorbing novel that fuses travel, anthropology and mystery. In many respects it feels a bit like a Paul Theroux travelogue, albeit Berlinski is far kinder to most of his subjects. And while this is a work of fiction, the main character certainly bears a strong resemblance to the author in more than just name.

How do I know this? I worked with Mischa briefly in 2001. Though our ‘relationship’ can be, at best, characterized as a casual acquaintance, Mischa is hard to forget. His speech has a particular cadence, a roller coaster of speed from slow drawls to excited animation and his wit, usually dry and mellow, can also reach an acid exasperation at times. Fieldwork captures the essence of Mischa quite well, giving great life to the novel.

Fieldwork follows Mischa, a rather aimless young man, who has tagged along with his girlfriend to Thailand. Berlinski’s description of Thailand is fantastic, with particular emphasis on colors, flowers and smells. Amid the odd writing assignments Mischa learns about the story of Martiya van der Leun, a Dutch Malaysian anthropologist who murdered a Christian missionary. At first intrigued, and then obsessed, Mischa wants to learn more about Martiya’s life and how she wound up dying in a Thai prison. Fieldwork is not a who-dunnit but is, instead, a why-dunnit.

Read my entire review at the Used Books Blog:
http://usedbooksblog.com/blog/fieldwo... ( )

This novel begins its tale with an anthropologist who is serving a life sentence in Thailand for murdering a missionary, and the rest of the book details the investigations of a curious freelance writer who seeks to discover exactly what happened.The book provides a fascinating look at how evangelical missionaries and secular anthropologists differ in their understanding of and approach to pagan tribal peoples.I enjoyed reading this page-turner. ( )

The clash between traditional culture and western culture results in a murder in the northern jungles of Thailand. This story is written from the POV of a journalist who stumbles upon the story and tries to figure out what happened several years before. Loved this! ( )

Missionaries, Anthropologists, Chaing Mai, Thailand were a winning combination for me. I studied (structural) anthropology in the late 60s-early 70s; my professors did fieldwork in Northern Thailand, so the hill tribes were often used as examples in lectures. I had read works by Isabel Kuhn and the Reader's Digest selection about the Morse family, the Lisu and their migration from Burma. I even considered doing an advanced degree in anthropology and linguistics and travelled through Northern Thailand in the late 1970s. Mischa Berlinski (who is also the narrator of this work of fiction) treats all three groups (anthropologists, missionaries and the Dyalo (a fictional hill tribe based on the Lisu) equally as interesting and humorous as the western expatriates he meets in Thailand. A good read that brought me back to those times and led me to read more on the hill tribes. Discovered through Books and Culture Review Jan/Feb 08 ( )

When I started reading this book, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. It states that it's a novel on the cover, but both the author and main character are named Mischa. Mischa the character is a journalist living in Thailand, and Mischa the author has worked as a journalist in Thailand. Add to that the first-person perspective, and this book feels very much like a true story. Nevertheless, it is fiction. It's a story about the country and the people of Thailand, about anthropology, about expatriate life in Asia, about missionary work, and about a mysterious murder and the elusive woman who committed it. The writing in this story has an immediacy to it that made me feel like all these people truly existed, and that if I got on a plane tomorrow I could visit Thailand and find Berlinski's imagined society of the Dyalo. I was compelled to keep reading in the hopes that I would discover the truth behind a passionate anthropologist's murder of a well-loved missionary. It made me interested to learn more about, and maybe visit, Thailand, an area of the world that has never appealed to me before. For me, Fieldwork was a unique reading experience. I felt like I was reading a great literary novel, an interesting piece of travel writing, a true crime narrative, and a history, all at the same time. I was taken off guard by how much I enjoyed the book, and would heartily recommend it to anyone who enjoys the categories I listed above. ( )

I found this book very intriguing – right up until the ending. The story is narrated by a character named Mischa Berlinski, which adds an almost off-putting note of odd realism to the story which involves the imprisonment of the anthropologist Martiya van der Leun for the murder of missionary David Walker, and Martiya’s eventual suicide. That sounds all very somber but the story is wildly inventive, roaming from Sulawesi to Chang Mai to traipsing around America with a band of Deadheads. The story is contemplative and humorous, mysterious and enlightening. The narrator comes upon the story of Martiya and the van der Leun family by chance, as he’s wiling away his time in northern Thailand while his wife teaches elementary school there. But as he researches their twisted histories he becomes so immersed in their lives, beliefs, and fates that their story soon consumes him. The settings are exotic and beautifully rendered and the daily life of the missionaries living for several generations among the natives is told with overlaying tones that are jaded, passionate, quirky, and very human. I was only disappointed in the final outcome – Martiya’s ultimate motivation, which, after all the realism and depth of the story seemed false and shallow to me. ( )

Fieldwork begins when its protagonist -also called Mischa Berlinski - learns about the suicide of an American anthropologist, Martiya van der Leun in a Thai prison. Berlinksi, also an American, is living in Thailand with his girlfriend and writing to earn money. He begins to investigate the story of Martiya and becomes consumed with it. The book then moves into a fairly extensive history of a family of American missionaries living in Thailand for several generations. Then we learn the story of Martiya's young life, education, and how she came to be doing fieldwork among the Dyalo people in Thailand. There are extremely detailed accounts of doing anthropological research and of the Dyalo. Mischa continues his research finally discovering how these stories come together and how Martiya came to be incarcerated.

It took me a a very long time to read this book. I enjoyed the writing, it was very conversational and there is a sort-of quirky humor in the book. The book felt very long and there are many characters. For example, I thought the story about the missionaries was going to be an aside, instead there were over 100 pages about their family history. The fieldwork section was similarly long. I have had a great interest in anthropology since taking some college classes on the subject which increased my appreciation of this part of the story. I don't feel that Amazon's description of this novel as a 'thriller' is terribly accurate. The mystery part of the story seems more like a vehicle for Berlinski to write about what he is interested in and knowledgeable about which happens to be missionaries and anthropology. It is obviously very well researched and Berlinski is a gifted writer. There was much that I liked about this book but I never felt very involved or invested in it. ( )

A geniously crafted novel that I could not put down. Berlinski develops the characters with great care so that every detail adds to the mystery surrounding the transformed and intertwined lives. I loved the often-humorous depiction of the missionaries. And as someone who has been on tour with the Dead, I gobbled up the part when David follows them -- the lingo and details were spot on. Brought back some good memories. ( )

This book was utterly fascinating, about Thai hill tribes (even though this one was fictional, there was some research base to it I am sure) and missionaries in the furthest reaches. It opened my eyes about those two things. The story was pretty good too, the plot interesting. I felt it lagged a bit when it detailed the lives of the missionaries and the generations preceding the present characters. I like that there remained mystery, unsolved, as life can be. ( )

I never thought that I would enjoy a book that pretends to be a memoir but is really a novel; an indepth anthropological study; and, a fair and unbiased view of evangelical Protestant missionaries. But that's what reading does for you. This novel has good character development and an interesting plot. The author really puts you into the back country of Thailand. ( )

In Mischa Berlinski's first novel, Fieldwork, a young American expatriate (named Mischa Berlinski) living in Thailand gradually uncovers the intertwined stories of an American anthropologist who was studying the Dyalo people, and a missionary family who was trying to convert them. At the heart of Fieldwork is a mystery surrounding a murder committed by the anthropologist.

Berlinski creates a believable, textured world in his novel, with a strong anthropological sense of the Dyalo (a fictional group, but apparently based on several real Thai groups). The lonely life of a field anthropologist was well realized. Berlinski's biggest achievement, for this reader, was his sympathetic take on the realistic, flawed missionary family.

The narrator teases out the anthropologist's story slowly and painstakingly, and my one disappointment is the narrative voice Berlinski finally used to wrap up the mystery. Some of the book felt quirky for quirkiness sake (why did the narrator have to have the same name as the actual author?), but the clarity of the writing made up for this. All in all, a strong first effort by a writer I'll be keeping an eye on. ( )

This is the story about a semi-journalist American expat in Thailand, who is researching a potential story about an American anthropologist who was jailed for killing an American missionary.

The backstories of the anthropologist and the missionary make up the bulk of the book, which unfortunately causes the ending to come very suddenly, a little rushed, and altogether too pat.

That said, I enjoyed every page.

The characters are well-rounded, and just flawed enough to be perfectly believable. The story is altogether plausible. And the narrator shares the author's name. The combination of these, plus the high quality of the writing, caused me more than once to flip the book closed to double-check that the cover did indeed say "Fiction". ( )

I knew very little about this book when I received it, apart from the fact that it involved Thailand, and anthropologists. As someone who has a degree in anthropology, and has been to Thailand on several occasions, I was interested to see what this book was about. I was not disappointed. This is an intriguing, realistic-feeling novel that kept me engaged throughout. It is a story of farang, a murderer, hill tribes and missionaries. Berlinski places himself as the narrator, and that lends an air of authenticity to the whole story. I found his descriptions of the Dyalo tribe fascinating (although entirely fiction), and his history of the missionary family equally intriguing. This was a very enjoyable book that I would highly recommend. ( )

Fieldwork was an immediately engrossing, captivating novel that was a bit like taking a ride on a roller coaster: once aboard, it's easy to forget the outside world as you are caught up in the twists and turns. Fieldwork is the story of Martiya van der Leun, an anthropologist studying the fictional Dyalo tribe who was imprisoned for the murder of a missionary. Her story catches the attention of Mischa, the narrator, who is living in Thailand with his girlfriend. Mischa sets out to unravel the mystery, in the process meeting the missionary's family and piecing together their history, along with that of Martiya, and fascinating glimpses into Dyalo life abound. Fieldwork captures the clash between western and tribal cultures and beliefs. The writing transports the reader to the settings in the novel with lush descriptions. The revelation of the mystery is well-paced. Unfortunately, the only downside to the novel is that the ultimate answer to "why she did it" just felt a bit thrown together. This was the only fault to an otherwise enthralling read and a highly recommended novel. ( )

I’ve had “Fieldwork” on my “Books to Buy” list for over a year now…ever since I read a glowing review from Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly. Last Saturday, out of the blue, a lovely friend of mine sent it to me for my birthday and I dove right in.

Of course, enough time has passed that I don’t remember exactly what Stephen King said about the book – so I was starting out from scratch. (I must admit that I kept looking at the author of the book, then the main character’s name, which are both Mischa Berlinski, and then kept trying to figure out – “Is it fiction, is it a memoir…? I’m still a bit confused…)

ANY-way…”Fieldwork” is the story of many peoples lives. The outer layer of the story is about a small part of Mischa Berlinski’s life – a year or so during which he lives in Thailand, the next layer involves a great many lives in the Walker family – a multi-generation group of missionaries in Thailand, and the inner most part of the book is the gradually revealed life of an American anthropologist, Martiya van der Leun.

Using narratives from the various characters, e-mails, phone conversations and actual fieldwork, Berlinski becomes obsessed (to the detriment of his own life) with trying to put together the pieces of Martiya’s life…and how she came to be imprisoned for murder.

The book was immediately engrossing – the description of Thailand and Thai culture was excellent as far as I was concerned. Detailed, but not overly so, just enough so I felt comfortable with the unfamiliar foods, words, and settings. The characters were also very well drawn. I fell right into the narrative, could see these people talk and laugh and move.

It was a bit like Mischa says upon first hearing Martiya’s story: “Then Josh told me about Martiya van der Leun and my soul, too, began to swing. Such is the power of a good story.”

I wasn’t expecting the humor that permeates the first half (or so) of the book, and actually laughed aloud in parts.

“Being with Martiya, you got to realize that it was a kind of ménage a trois. Her damned hair has a will of its own. One day it’s flat and the next it’s big, and everything about her changed, depending on the hair.”

Or in an exchange of two characters who’ve never met: “Oh, you are not Tom Riley at all,” she concluded, after a considerable period of judgment. “No, I admitted, and to cover the silence which fell over the room, I added, idiotically, “I’m sorry.” “Don’t be sorry,” the woman replied evenly. “I’m not Tom Riley either, after all.”

Having established to our mutual satisfaction that my failure to be Tom Riley implied no moral fault, she paid me no further mind…”

Last one (this novel, after all, is not meant to be a comedy, but the funny bits were just so refreshing…):

“Can I offer you a cool glass of orange Tang?” Nomie asked.

For the first and only time in my adult life, I was seized by the desire for a cool glass of orange Tang. I was aware suddenly that my throat was desperately parched, and I didn’t just want but needed a cool glass of orange Tang.”

As the book progresses, Mischa’s obsession with knowing all, knowing what happened, knowing why things happened, grows. His fieldwork takes hold of him, and he does his best to immerse himself in any aspect of Martiya’s life he can…especially the life of the Walkers..the family of the man she was imprisoned for murdering.

“There was no natural end to Walkerology, and in the spirit, if not the endurance, of the heroic Sir Richard Jebb, who studied all – and only – the seven surprising plays of Sophocles for upwards of sixty years, I would have been content to study the Walkers for a very long time.”

Mischa’s study of the Walkers and of Martiya, is of course, a mirror image of Martiya’s obsession of the Thai people she dedicates her life to studying (the Dyalo). He realizes this, but seems powerless to stop repeating the pattern.

“Martiya was hardly better suited to her self-appointed task of understanding the Dyalo when the Curiosity took her; but of course I was hardly better suited to my self-appointed task of understanding Martiya.”

The novel ultimately provides a “why” to the central mystery of the book – and there, I think, was the only flaw. After such a detailed character study of a the characters, the place, even the times…the “solution” seems tacked on, as if the author realized he was running out of time and had to wind things up. I wasn’t sold on the reason…but liked the rest of the book enough to finish it up.

“Fieldwork” was a wonderful gift, and a very good book…I just wish the outer layers had revealed a more satisfying center. ( )

Fieldwork, by Mischa Berlinski, is a fascinating literary hybrid—part mystery novel, part fictionalized memoir, and part well-research (but completely fictionalized) cultural anthropology. The writing is outstanding—easy and unadorned with lyrical touches that appear out of nowhere to delight and beguile. There is also a surprising amount of subtle humor that pops up unexpectedly throughout. The characters are spot-on perfect—so utterly authentic that it’s almost impossible to believe the author when he admits in the end notes that: “None of this stuff happened to anyone.”

I found this book absorbing, unique, and fascinating in just about every respect. What interested me most, was not the plot so much as it was the chance to immerse myself in a multitude of exotic new worlds—worlds that I would never have experienced on my own. In this book, readers are invited inside many diverse worlds, in particular: the culture of evangelical Christian missionaries working with the hill tribes of Northern Thailand, the culture of worldwide present-day expatriates in Thailand, the culture of 1980s UC Berkeley Graduate School of Anthropology students, the culture of the fictional Thailand hill tribe of the Dyalos, and a number of other minor cultural experiences both historical and contemporary along the way.

For me, the entire reading experience was like one entertaining intellectual armchair adventure ride!

Briefly, the book tells the story of a female UC Berkeley-trained anthropologist, who murdered an evangelical Christian missionary around 1990 in the wilds of Northern Thailand. Before the murder, the anthropologist had been studying and living with a single Dyalo hill tribe for 15 years. The man she murdered spoke Dyalo like a native. He loved the Dyalo as if they were his own family because he was raised alongside them in China near the Thai border. As an infant and small child, his missionary parents raised him in an American-style home built with enormous difficulty in an isolated valley populated primarily by Dyalo tribesmen. The family had to flee to Thailand from their “Eden Valley” home in the 1950s when China expelled all foreigners. The missionary family moved to Northern Thailand. Eventually the anthropologist and the missionary crossed paths, and the murder took place. The anthropologist was tried and convicted for her crime. She served 15 years of a 50-year sentence in a Thai prison before taking her own life. An American expatriate freelance journalist living in present-day Thailand investigates the whole story and relates his findings to us. In a twist that may make some purists cringe, the author names his fictional narrator after himself. Thus, the novel takes on the quality of a memoir, albeit, a totally fictional one.

Obviously, this is a book about clashing cultural values. To the author’s great credit, he treats both sides with enormous humanity and understanding.

Little by little over the course of this detailed novel, we learn about the precise circumstances surrounding the murder. In the end, all the physical pieces come together. But knowing the exact circumstances of the murder, however satisfying they are to know, is not what this book is all about. Once readers finishes this book, they will start pondering all the diverse global political, economic, social, psychological, religious, and ecological issues that the work stirs up. Somewhere in the middle of all those issues, each reader will come to terms with the underlying motivations behind the murder. So the plot is just the enticing thread that leads us toward and into a lot of major contemporary social issues.

You have to love reading all three parts of this chimera—the novel, the memoir, and the pseudo-nonfiction cultural anthropology—or this book will fail to please you. At first, it wasn’t easy getting used to reading this hybrid. For me, it was a wholly different type of reading experience, and I actually needed to adjust my normal reading pattern in order get into the swing of things, and start enjoying the experience. Perhaps I’m not like other readers, but I tend to read novels, memoirs, and nonfiction works in different ways. I started out reading this book as if it were a novel, and that was wrong for me. I ended up reading this book as if I were reading nonfiction and that seemed to work better. If your reading tastes are broad and happily encompass novels, memoirs, and nonfiction works of cultural anthropology, then you’ll probably love this book as much as I did. If you don’t enjoy one of those three types of reading, or if you want the book to be only one type and not all three, then you’ll probably have difficulty getting into and through this work…or, if you do, you’ll probably find significant fault with the work as a whole. My advice: expect a hybrid, read it as a hybrid, and you will probably not be disappointed.

I can easily see why this unique novel caught the attention of nationwide book critics and was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award. I will certainly recommend it to many (but not all), of my book-loving friends. I look forward to more books by this talented new author. Personally, I hope he sticks to this unique hybrid format, but if he branches out into new territory next time, I’ll happily tag along. He’s certainly made it to my “must-read” list. ( )