You may find that At The Speed of Life reads like a novel, but it is actually a true story in journal form that takes the reader on a series of adventures, from the everyday suburban life of a love-smitten teenager to sailing the South Pacific to bronco-busting in the American West. The story is Walter Mitty, Forrest Gump, The Wonder Years and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis all rolled into one – except that, unlike those fictional tales, this story is all true!

It began in 1965 as a ninth grade English Class writing assignment – keep a journal for one semester. New teen Mike Petrie began recording his thoughts about the sweet trauma of adolescence. But long after the due date for handing in the assignment, he continued committing his observations to paper – writing about loves discovered and lost, emotions stirred, famous folk whose paths crossed his, and the many social and political upheavals that occurred over four fascinating decades as he and his fellow Baby Boomers pursued, and even redefined, the American Dream.

The resulting work is replete with an abundance of photographs and icons from the various eras. There are more than 77 million Baby Boomers in America and in a very real sense this is THEIR story! But it should have wide appeal to anyone who enjoys reading true adventures or coming-of-age stories. In fact, the reason Michael Petrie decided to shape the journal into a book was due to encouragement from a Feature Development Executive for DreamWorks – a fellow Baby Boomer – who sees potential in it for a film adaption.