Bradford McCormick

I hope memory serves me right: At the beginning of each show, the host would be shown going to a cenetery to meet his guest of the evening. As he said, some of the most interesting people had their residence there. All Souls Day is coming as I write this.... I believe Steve Allen was the host. Here's a quote from him: "The proposition that the entire human race -- consisting of enormous hordes of humanity -- would be placed seriously in danger of a fiery eternity characterized by unspeakable torments purely because a man disobeyed a deity by eating a piece of fruit offered him by his wife is inherently incredible." (Steve Allen)

This book is great. But it could also have been titled: "The sorrow and the pity". It tells the story of a man who was so "good" at his craft that most of the people "above" him just wanted to get rid of him because he made them uncomfortable about themselves. I personally knew a simllar person and watched him get destroyed. Boyd was not destroyed, but he only made Full Colonel (not General!) by the exceptional efforts of a few persons who *were* able to appreciate his genius. He was the father of the F-16, but his idea of the F-16 was Muhammad Ali's: "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", whereas what "the brass" wanted was "everything except the kitchen sink". This book is admonitory about how "the world" treats "wild ducks". As an aside, I think John Boyd, who was a military genius (a self-proclamied student of Sun Tzu) must have had an "Achilles heel': He died of colon cancer. Was he as vigilant about the enemy within as the enemny without? Get you colonoscopy.