“My life is a series of disasters punctuated with miracles.”

“My life is a series of disasters punctuated with miracles.”

He is not the world’s richest man, nor the most famous, but this man, who created the first e-commerce business, discovered the secrets to real happiness. Life Lessons charts the disasters, pitfalls and lessons from some of the great iconic teachers of the 20th century.

Randall’s tale is a saga of invention, entrepreneurship, sudden sharp turns and jumping off a cliff with no parachute. From the Top of Beacon Hill in Boston to a remote Caribbean Island – from Ouagadougou Burkina Faso to the Jungles of Malaysia Randall’s saga is a world tour of unexpected adventures. He chases the Dream People trying to find the secrets of Dream Telepathy, shoots the rapids on the Merced River and stalks the halls of top universities trying to figure out how society separates visionaries from crazy people.

In a text richly illustrated with photos both ancient and modern, Randall takes us on a tour of an amazing life. His tale bring us face to face with ancestors and mentors; Margaret Mead, Bucky Fuller, Marshall McLuhan, Pres Eckert (the Inventor of ENIAC) Albert Hoffmann and Humphrey Osmond (of LSD fame), and some top psychologists probed the depths of the Dreaming Mind to discover the origins of consciousness.

Randall charts a wandering path from the earliest days of personal computers, when databases were managed with knitting needles and punch cards, when modems moved data at a snail’s pace; through the struggle to create a viable business; the creation of the first e-commerce business; the first cyber café and a world class charity to bring personal computers and The Freedom Technology to people behind the Iron Curtain, breaking United Nations Sanctions and “gun running” laptops to clandestine drop points.

Randall’s tale is also a story of Family and Deep Emotions; the tragedy of infertility, guiding his wife through a maze with Cancer and an inevitable death. Three Eulogies in as many years and the miracle of finding a new partner despite living on a remote island.

Did he discover the secrets of Real Happiness in the Classrooms of Princeton and Columbia, or in mountains of Bali? Behind the Berlin Wall or in the arcane language of CompuServe?

What is it like to have an elephant sit on you? Or live in a prison for the Criminally Insane?

And how come he had to wipe the bottoms of ten million mice – was THAT where he discovered the secrets of happiness?

The book is richly illustrated. Chock full of “Life Lesson” and some of the best sound bites and aphorisms of the late 20th century’s greatest thinkers.

“Randall is Excellent. Take Him!” – Margaret Mead
"A Remarkable Trip” – Albert Hoffmann
“Hot Media is the Message” – Marshall McLuhan
“Randall is all about Synergy” R. Buckminister Fuller
“The Legendary Boston Computer Exchange...” Wired Magazine

Alex Randall is an Author, Professor, Broadcaster, Entrepreneur, Dreamer and Inventor.

He is the Good News Guy for the US Virgin Islands, Professor of Communication at the University of the Virgin Islands and host of the Podcast from Paradise.

Randall Lives on Water Island in the US Virgin Islands with his wife and five children.

Podcast from Paradise

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Water Island Cottages