Editor’s note: That Samuel Clemens was a genius writer and humorist is without a doubt. That he was also cantankerous, narcistic and opinionated is proven more clearly than ever in this his own authorized and self-written biography. I now understand why he waited 100 years from his death (published in 2010) to release these notes (and I mean stream of conscious notes – rather blog-like, actually) since few are left unjudged, including himself. But the things he experienced and the times he lived in took me to a far-away place. And watching for it, as I knew to do, his hyperbolic humor often overtook me, as in my favorite excerpt below.

Favorite excerpt: “…that I have acquired new and great privileges by grace of my age is not an uncalculated remark. When I passed the seventieth milestone, ten months ago, I instantly realized that I had entered a new country and a new atmosphere. To all the public I was become recognizably old, undeniably old; and from that moment everybody assumed a new attitude toward me – the reverent attitude granted by custom to age – and straightaway the stream of generous new privileges began to flow in upon me and refresh my life.”