The Fourteen Lives of Matt Perry

Who can say how words in this book will be received ? Will readers respond to a message about immigration and resilience ? I know my own reaction. I came to the conclusion that nobody would buy in. That was a switch because I had believed people would eat up my every word. As I wrote, a change came over me. I began to believe that my words would also change others. Even Warren Buffett, the modern King Midas. I began to see that my book was not just about emigration and resilience but also about repentance and redemption. I accepted the notion that this was my Pactolus, the river which had lifted the burden of greed and threat from Midas, whose food and drink---and daughter---turned into gold at his touch. Suddenly, Midas was free to live like a person who could touch his food, drink and family members without bad results. He was freed from his addiction to wealth. ---------------------------- My 77-year-span unfolded before my eyes. I recorded all traumas in detail---a million words, hundreds of pages. Slowly, I began to understand that I was having a conversion experience. -------------------------- I went from admiration and love of pennies, nickels, dimes, riches, wealth---an addicted state of mind---to the realization that I had a condition which I call Buffett mania. As Buffett's biographer Schroeder wrote this year, Buffett did not control money. Rather, money controlled Warren Buffett. In Omaha , Buffett stole his sister's bicycle--because he wanted a trade-in as he bought a bicycle for himself. He shop-lifted golf balls at Sears in Washington so he could sell balls himself. During my careers as chemical engineer and stock-market analyst, I observed Buffett mania in my engineering and business associates but overlooked my addiction. I still have traces of this mental illness. Now I have decided to be a man---to confront Warren Buffett with my book. Buffett's biographer describes his mania in