A Wayward Academic: Reflections from the policy trenches by Tom Corbett

In 2014, I wrote Browsing through My Candy Store, a memoir of my career attempting to master the art of public policy. That book, though enjoying modest sales at best, was well received by my colleagues in the academy, by those members of the public who stumbled upon this classic, and by so-called book scouts who ferret out literary gems. That pleased me greatly. My intent was to develop a crossover work that might bridge both the real and the academic worlds. I tried to avoid being so technical that the average reader risked being driven into a deep coma while exploring some serious topics. A comatose like demeaner is an unfortunate condition too often witnessed among my university students, especially the undergraduates I taught in earlymorning courses. There are few greater challenges than facing social work students who wish to be family therapists but are required to take a policy course to graduate, a topic that they fear involves way too many numbers.