My Life in Words and Numbers

Abstract

George Orwell reportedly said that “Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful.” I've done my best to eliminate any disgraceful episodes from the following account, thereby compromising its trustworthiness. What's left is a record of someone lucky enough to ( a) find a career as a demographer that was ideally suited to his affinity for writing and math and ( b) find institutions and individuals who vigorously and uncompromisingly supported the search for a better understanding of our social world. I can only hope that I have been equally supportive of students, colleagues, and institutions whose pathways I have crossed.