This printed version of the book differs only slightly from the Kindle format, in that it includes a few additional photos and minor changes in the text to meet page layout requirements. Also, two maps showing the geographic context of Edward's growing up in China and the subsequent voyages at sea have been inserted. This is the story of how a biracial child, penniless, with little formal education, hardly speaking English, and without a clue of how to go about it, reaches America and pursues the American Dream. His Cantonese mother occasionally calls him "larn doe yee" (which means rotten gambler two). His American father is imprisoned by the Japanese during their occupation of Shanghai. After the Communists take over, his father reluctantly leaves for America, leaving eight children behind. What perils does Edward face in war-torn Shanghai, being hungry, bullied, expelled from school, seen as unmanageable by his mother, and trying various schemes to earn money, one of which results in his being threatened with beheading? Many of his extended family do not survive. He escapes Shanghai at age 14. In Hong Kong he is hired as a cabin boy on a Danish tramp ship. Eventually, on an impulse, he joins the US Air Force and has more adventures, as he tries to fit into unfamiliar cultures to become a real American.
About the Author: Edward Lumsdaine was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Shanghai, mostly during war times as told in his fascinating story "Rotten Gambler Two Becomes a True American.". His mother was Chinese, his father an American merchant. After stints as a cabin boy and waiter on a Danish tramp steamer and four years in the US Air Force, he started college on the GI Bill at Ventura College, with little education past primary school. He soon met his wife-to-be, an exchange student from Switzerland. He then earned his BS, MS and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering, all at New Mexico State University. After working for the Boeing Company as research engineer, his love for teaching lured him back to the academic life at South Dakota State, the University of Tennessee, and New Mexico State. He advanced from Professor to administrative positions, including Dean of Engineering at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, the University of Toledo, and Michigan Tech. In 2015, he and his wife celebrated their fifty-sixth anniversary. They have raised four children and built to passive solar homes. Later, they co-authored textbooks in engineering design and entrepreneurship that focus on creative problem solving. Together, they have taught workshops all over the US and overseas. During a low period in his life, he began to think about his roots in childhood. He found that writing memoir was very different from technical writing. It was more like storytelling, and many people urged him to jot down what to them were almost incredible experiences of survival. At a Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference he won third place for nonfiction for an early version of his memoirs submitted to the contest for unpublished writers. Almost seven years later, he discovered an easy way to self-publish through Amazon/Kindle, starting with the story of his youth. This was quickly followed by the softcover edition. Next in the works is the "love story" sequel, with the final part of Edward's life-overcoming gambling addiction-to be completed early next year. Now in retirement, this project is surely a new adventure for him and his wife.