I grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, and moved to Los Angeles when I was nineteen years old. I worked in an industrial plant for ten years, and then started my own business doing computer work. I’ve been self-employed ever since, though not in the same field. These days, I do tax returns in the winter, and make and sell artisan cheese all summer. And I write. In 1993, I went to Sri Lanka to work as a volunteer with the Sarvodaya Movement. I stayed 18 months, and returned several more times over the next decade. In 1999, I joined a team that was working to end the civil war there. We helped bring about a cease-fire that lasted four years – the longest cease-fire of the war. In 2004, I decided I’d had enough of city life, and moved to rural southern Utah. My wife and I have twenty acres of sagebrush with incredible views of the mountains. Our cheese business grew from a desire to be more self-sustaining and closer to our food. At first, we raised a herd of goats and made goat cheese. Then we found that tending a herd was too much work, and we weren’t getting enough milk to satisfy our demand. Now we buy cow milk from a nearby dairy. Our interest in preparedness inspired the book Ordinary World. My wife and I talked at length about what our life might look like if things turned sour. How prepared are we, really? Ordinary World was a means to explore that question. I was surprised to find how many others seem to be asking themselves the same question! The book has been popular far beyond my expectations.