I grew up finding mathematics both easy and intriguing, so it was simple to continue in college what I had found to be a breeze in school. I didn’t even consider alternatives but went on to practice mathematics (with physics) in my profession.

At first mathematics meant numbers and then calculus … I spent hours modeling everything from nuclear systems to the human body for both work and fun. But really the study of mathematics leaves behind it, when you have forgotten integral formulae, a basis of logic that has served me well through everything I have done in life. I find it easy to progress step-by-step through a plan, through a proof, and through a solution for everything from a move in chess to choosing a job or planning an emigration. Only women confound logic.

Yet, there was something else that emerged as I left college … it was a need to put down thoughts and tales on paper. My first article -- about spending a night in jail -- was followed by others on chess, on fish keeping (with a new correlation for sizing an aquarium’s population), on travel, on skiing, on marathons, on human physiology, and on different technical issues.

The subject didn’t really matter … what mattered was the act of putting words down on paper and using words that bring life to the meaning. This matters still today. Dylan Thomas is a hero of mine.

Throughout my life my hobbies have been marked by curiousity about their origin, history, practice and lore. So, faced with helping to organize an area of my interests I seemed to gravitate towards editing newsletters and journals. I have been involved in many through the years.

Words became a natural complement to numbers.

While, for example, analyzing marathon performance in terms of human physiological and performance parameters, I also needed to describe the motivation and the experience of the event so a book was born, which was read and used around the world.

There are many things I do not do well. My entries into playing the piano, the violin, the recorder, the guitar, and even the bagpipes, have been marked by endeavor but not aptitude. I could not do what I might want to do. While enjoying music and singing, it was not one of my natural talents. My cat deserted the room when I played the guitar.

Likewise, I enjoy art. There is nothing better than standing before a small Vermeer and appreciating the composition, the use of space, line and color … but I could not produce anything one hundredth as able. I have tried.

So, in my creativity, I am restricted to mathematics and words, and, as my age increases, more words than mathematics.

The following chapters are words describing my early years. They are really written … for my own pleasure. However, if you find them interesting so much the better.

Welcome.

“In a House Overlooking the Sea," John Graham, A biography to be published.

Contact John Graham fior pre-publication information and samples.