"This book celebrates Gerald M. Weinberg for the time that he has given to the Information Technology world. In an astonishing career spanning fifty-plus years, Jerry (as he is known to many) is author of more than forty published nonfiction books, many of them enormously influential, and (to date) one novel. Through those years, he built and ran a successful consulting business, and he designed and taught courses that helped to change his students' lives. . . .

"Though he may not have invented Information Technology consulting as a profession, Jerry was one of its first and best practitioners, pioneering methods and techniques that many consultants now take for granted. The experiential courses he designed with his wife, Dani, and other collaborators -- such as Don Gause and Jean McLendon -- were unique and have remained so, famous for their quality and power to effect positive change in their participants. . . .

"Jerry's generosity with his own time is well-known among his students and friends. In the closing chapter of this book, Bent Adsersen relates how Jerry once told him that time is the most valuable gift one person can give to another. Author, mentor, writing coach, consultant, storyteller, and friend, Jerry has freely given that most valuable gift, often and to many.

"The contributors to this volume have all been recipients of that gift. As readers, students, clients, colleagues, friends -- and wife, in Dani Weinberg's case -- we have shared precious time with Jerry, gaining much from the exchange.

"This book is a gift of time we give to Jerry: from a few of his many students, friends, colleagues, and his publisher, an offering in celebration of his seventy-fifth birthday."

-- from the Preface