Thanks for your long reply, DHM. It does make me look at things from a broader angle, and I do hope that Michael Gates truly learned something and that his (brief?) sojourn cleaning toilets was not a segue into another type of workaholic life. Guess I do really need to read the book. I just focused on the incredible devastation he caused his family by having the affair (and obviously failing even to use birth control).
A year ago my niece got a phone call--a phone call!--from her husband saying that he didn't want to be married any more. They had made reservations at a nice restaurant for their 25th wedding anniversary. He took the girlfriend. My cousin got a phone call from her husband's girlfriend saying that she was pregnant and why didn't she let him go. My cousin took the husband back, who subsequently fathered another child with the same girlfriend. My cousin kept this miserable creep but has developed an intractable digestive problem that has stayed with her for years. These are two of the perhaps 20 stories in my memory bank, all involving relatives or close friends. Hence my dislike of that particular aspect of Michael.
But anyone can change, and it seems from what you say that the main focus of his book is that he has done so. But I definitely need to read the book, because I'm thinking that if he says he regrets the affair it would hurt the girlfriend (whom he probably told that his wife was cold, didn't understand him, never wanted sex, etc.) and if he has no regrets then his ex-wife and older children would be hurt. I'd be interested in knowing how he handles this.
If it's true that he has gone through such a dramatic change in outlook and is using his inner change to influence others to do the same, then this is a good thing.
Maybe I can get the book on Paperback Swap. For those of you who don't know about this website, if you have a stash of pre-read books at home, you can list them on Paperbackswap.com. If somebody orders them, you get a credit and can order one that is listed on the site (there are thousands.) The only money involved is postage.
Sharonov
