T. A. Barron was born on March 26,1952 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. As a boy growing up surrounded by the mountains of Colorado, Barron developed a great respect for the natural world. Always an avid reader, he also loved to write down his own thoughts and feelings, and as a fifth grader even produced a personal magazine for his family and friends entitled "The Idiot's Odyssey." After receiving a bachelor's degree from Princeton University, he spent several years in Europe traveling and studying at Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship. During this period, he also continued to write and completed his first novel. He abandoned his plans to be a professional writer after over forty publishers rejected this manuscript, and returned to the United States to pursue a law degree at Harvard University. However, instead of completing his law degree, he eventually moved to New...