SCHOOL DAYS II

SCHOOL DAYS II is the second part of an autobiography that began with School Days: Coming of Age in the Mid-20th Century (available at on-line booksellers). Although it primarily focuses on the author's personal life, it begins by describing the turmoil associated with him joining the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh. He describes "debates" with Bill Gates, Milton Friedman, Senator Barry Goldwater and Vladimir Putin, travels around the world, several unique vacations and how his kids were able to maneuver him into getting an unwanted cat and dog and building an outdoor swimming pool in a cold-weather city. Two near-death experiences figure prominently--one involving SCUBA-diving in the Caribbean while breaking the rules of diving and one an overnight "lost-at-sea" incident in Maine. King describes himself as a pathological second-home acquirer leading him to becoming a farmer, learning to ski at an advanced age, acquiring a gas leasehold in the Marcellus Shale, sailboat, powerboat, all-terrain vehicle and snowmobile adventures and losing two homes to vandal-set fires.