I'm writing this for several reasons One is to…

I'm writing this for several reasons One is to have future descendants or current descendants know a little bit more about me secondly to possibly justify some of the history that I have a thirdly to try to convey lessons of what I've learned and avoid my descendants from learning these lessons the hard way and there was a fourth reason I don't remember what it is.

— from Before Takeoff (front matter) · GB written

In the book

Why I am writing it. I have been meaning to do this for years and kept not getting to it — until a number of friends my own age began to get sick and to die, which has a way of moving a thing to the top of the list. I am writing for a few plain reasons: so that you, my descendants — the ones I know and the ones I will never meet — will know something of who I actually was; so I can pass along the lessons I gathered the hard way and spare you from paying full price for them; and because as I get older I have watched how easily people, families included, talk past each other and harden into misunderstandings, and I would rather hand you the perspective up front than watch you learn it slowly. Looking back, I find I have very few regrets — I would make almost every decision again with the same facts in front of me. — Before Takeoff (front matter)

I have been meaning to write it for years and could never quite get to it, and then a number of friends my age began to get sick and to die, and that has a way of moving a thing to the top of the list. I wrote it for a few plain reasons: so my descendants would know a little about who I was, so I could account for some of my history, and most of all so I could hand you the lessons I learned the hard way and spare you from paying full price for them. Because here is the truth about dying that took me longest to understand: the hardest part is not that I will no longer exist — it is that I will be silent. I will no longer be able to stop you from hurting yourself, or help you get back up, or tell you how proud I am. — Legacy / The Logbook (Legacy/Epilogue)

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