John Graham is a renaissance person ... a nuclear scientist, a world traveler, a multi-marathon runner (best time 2:43:30), a chess player, an essayist, a writer of over twenty books, a gardener and an art lover, and has lived, worked, and written in five countries. He has skied, langlauf, but is not happy at throwing himself over a slippery edge without at least some disc brakes. Nevertheless his wife skies the black slopes and having lived in Colorado for nearly two decades he has sufficient background on the slopes to be convincing.