Without a Net A True Tale of Prison, Penthouses, and Playmates [Paperback]

Starving and certain that I would die in my dingy jail cell in Spain, I made a deal with God. I fell to my knees, promising to give up all drugs and criminal activities. I prayed out loud, witnessed only by the urine-soaked walls and huge rats that shared my cage. My desperation was raw and naked. I thought about the Countess. I thought about my parents at home on Long Island. But mostly I thought about myself. ???Save me, God, and I will live virtuously and honor my family.??? I was released early and found myself back home, penniless and living in my parents??? basement. God had kept his promise. I soon broke mine...Without a Net is an autobiographical road trip through a volatile period of American history. Barry Hornig was a seeker and an explorer. His adventures were splendid and sordid, and the sort of stuff that would teach anyone a lesson. This is the story of how he learned his lessons the hard way.Michael Claibourne graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in English Literature in 1990. After studying Japanese for several years in Tokyo, he worked in software development for a while in Los Angeles, first at Disney Interactive and then at DreamWorks Feature Animation. Finding writing far more rewarding than the world of software engineering, he has switched to writing full time.Barry Hornig attended Boston University and graduated from Emerson College with a BA in 1963, after which he took part in Tim Leary???s LSD experiments at Harvard. A native of New York City, he has been able to combine his love of travel with his knowledge of Central Asian textiles and kilims, and he has traveled extensively through Afghanistan, pre-Taliban Pakistan, Spain, Morocco, and South America. He was a real estate broker in New York City, then started a rug factory in the ancient city of Balkh, Afghanistan in the 1970s. An international collector of textiles and an authority on weavings and carpets from Central Asia and Europe, Barry currently divides his time between Santa lÃç