Book excerpt: Stories of a Small Town Farm Boy takes author Eric Duling’s 1960s childhood on a big-family farm and brings it to life starting with the story of an anxious child trying to acclimate into the first grade when all he’s ever known has been farm life. His stories encompass grade school through graduate school as well as a teaching career and early retirement. Duling wrote Stories of a Small Town Farm Boy because when he left the rural life weighing two very different career paths—engineering professor and singer/songwriter—he realized that not only could he communicate, and communicate well with others, but that they liked his stories. They heard in his stories their own. And so, with this book of humerous yet poignant stories, Duling hopes to continue to entertain you, make you laugh, and yes, connect.