In the first book of a trilogy, Larry Wahl (aka Lewis X. Vallian) describes his childhood and teenage years, providing insight into his adult dysfunction, but also how he came to be a geometer and receive the first - and probably only - patent on the 4th dimension.
Larry E. Wahl narrates the experiences that brought him to where he is today at the age of 83 in his new book, The Vallian Trilogy: An Inventive Life. Part 1, The Engineer. His difficult upbringing and eventual journey to become a productive adult will relate to young adult and adult readers alike who are interested in making sense of their lives.
Torn away from a loving father and his birth home of Goble, Oregon, Larry was brought to Chicago by his mother and her mob boyfriend, Tony, to live in one of Al Capone's brothels, where he saw Tony kill an important member of Capone's gang resulting in their being banished to Portland, Oregon's Italian/Jewish ghetto. Life as Larry knew it was a constant cycle of neglect, loss, despair, violence and sex until he reached the age of 6.
Then, after being abandoned by his mother, he lived as an orphan among hundreds of nuns at Providence Academy in Vancouver, Washington before being adopted by the Wahl family at the age of 10. While his new life gave him food and shelter, his childhood experiences prevented him from genuinely bonding with any family. It was only when he found a fit in a group of self-proclaimed misfits and could pursue his goal of learning everything about everything that he was able to work through much of the early devastating damage, although he continued to be haunted by those early memories.
Larry contends that this accounting of his life can be a guide for others who have experienced difficulties in their lives by being an example of survival and growth in the face of adversity. His pain and sadness, interjected with humor, can show others that they can overcome the obstacles that life throws their way and find their own unique means of contributing to society.
Larry E. Wahl is a writer, artist, geometer and inventor. But his most important contribution to this and future generations is that he wrote unaided and was granted Wahl patent #5982374, The Vallian Geometric Hexagon Opting Symbolic Tesseract, "a computer method which enables the user to interface with AI, graphics, data-base, engineering systems, architectural detail, systems analysis, note-taking, CAD/CAM and internet type communications." (Wahl, 1999 Patent p. 34 Summary d). Larry has been writing since high school. This is his first book. His other publications include "Elephant in the Room," "The Tesseract: Path Through Optical Illusions," "Manifesto 1" and excerpts from his books in progress.
