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So many people helped bring this book to completion that it’s difWcult to name them all. The loving support of my spouse, Bob Segal, kept me going through many challenges. And his assistance on some of the many tasks involved, such as entering the edits I made on hard copy in coffee shops, helped lighten my load tremendously. He was also one of many readers who helped troubleshoot the text. Others included Lynn Jacobs, Anna Mirocha, Eric van Lienden, Kay Sather, Sonya Diehn, Richard Druitt, Teala Smith, Dawn Madden, Susan Lenart-Kazmer, Jeneiene Schaffer, and Lucia Grossberger Morales. Lucia Grossberger Morales also graciously provided her solar-powered home in Tucson for my use as a writing getaway while she traveled. Richard Druitt and Andria Robinson similarly lent me their lovely riverside home in Puerto Rico for more than a month while I fed the cat, watered plants, and wrote. Occasional immersions in the Caribbean Sea were exactly what I needed to move forward on this project, which initially felt overwhelming to someone more accustomed to writing news stories than the seemingly never-ending string of pages that comprise a book. Getting a contract to write the book, though, was something I had dreamed about for years. I thank Gary Heidt, co-founder of Signature Literary Agency, for helping me reach that dream. Allyson Carter, too, has been an essential guiding force in her role as editor for the University of Arizona Press. I also thank Debra Makay for her professional editing that greatly improved the manuscript. The idea of writing this book has been on my mind for a long time. It’s what drew me back to graduate school in the mid-1990s, when I realized I would not reach the depth I wanted without deep background. So Wnishing it feels like the culmination of that lengthy Ph.D. process more so than Wnishing my dissertation did. I thank the many mentors who guided me in my graduate work, including Sandra Brown, Ariel Lugo, Y Acknowledgments Fred Scatena, Waite Osterkamp, Steve Leavitt, Judy Parrish, Malcolm Hughes, and Gregg GarWn. All played important roles in my graduate (and in Gregg GarWn’s case, postdoctoral) education. I also thank all the scientists and other knowledgeable sources who generously spent time talking with me and double-checking my facts. For lack of space, I ended up leaving out too many juicy bits in my Wnal edit, but all the conversations shaped the book’s direction. I also appreciated the insights and support of two anonymous reviewers. Many instructors at Tucson’s Yoga Connection, especially Priscilla Potter, Ashley Leal, and Tracy Gordon, helped me Wnd the physical stamina to sit at the computer for so many long hours and the mental stillness to focus my thoughts. Finally, I am grateful that my dog, Pepita, pulled through a near-fatal illness so she could sit at my feet throughout the writing of this book. There’s nothing like the love of a member of another species to remind us that this planet holds mysteries beyond our human experience. 230 acknowledgments ...

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