Bill Cox's favorite directions are west, north, and uphill. He grew up in New Jersey, transited to Michigan for undergrad, medical school, and residency before heading to Alaska in...view moreBill Cox's favorite directions are west, north, and uphill. He grew up in New Jersey, transited to Michigan for undergrad, medical school, and residency before heading to Alaska in 1984. While backpacking through Europe in 1972, a seed for adventure was planted after Bill took off uphill in the Swiss Alps and met Hans, an old man who spent his summers high up in the Alps, in the shadow of the Jungfrau, where he made cheese. Bill says, “I walked into a fairy tale.” That seed found fertile ground and sprouted in the Last Frontier known as Alaska—and even more so in the vast continent of Asia beckoning from just across the Pacific. Adventure called with 26 trips overseas which found him wandering across Siberia, Mongolia, India, and the smaller countries of Southeast Asia. From a sit-down meeting with the Dalai Lama in India to drinking gin with a member of the criminal mafia in the Russian Far East to coffee with a homeless street friend at an Anchorage, Alaska McDonalds, My Pursuit of the Axis of Evil will excite, educate, and exhilarate.view less