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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Wow! What started as an extra credit
project with my students has grown into a two–
volume, 800-page production. Some day when
I retire, I'm going to sit down, re-read all this,
and let it fully soak in.
In early drafts of this book and its
predecessor, we considered giving separate
credit for each of the gems of wisdom
submitted. We also considered rejecting this
notion for several reasons. First, a good rule of
life should stand on its own and not rely on any
one authority. If it is a valid rule, has stood the
test of time in many forms, it does not matter
who introduced it on this occasion.
Second, although some contributors thought
they had created some of the rules of life, we
could not be sure. After a while it is difficult to
separate one's own thoughts from the
accumulation of the thoughts of others. Third,
many comments on survey forms, although
excellent, were returned unsigned and/or with
partial names and addresses for credit.
The final reason we considered not giving
separate credit for each rule of life is that we do
not have on file the source of all these pearls of
wisdom. We have, however, tried to give credit
where there was special input that was
formative.
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