The Last Adventure: A Matt & the General Novel by Harry Katzan Jr.

This is a book of fiction and is intended for the entertainment of the reader. The main characters, that is, Matt, the General, Ashley, Anna, Mark Clark, Buzz Bunday, the Queen, the President, First Lady, academic and medical personnel, employees, and support persons are totally made up to suit the novel. The Iranian students that existed are real, but none in the form portrayed. Their actual lives are not known.

The reference to Bill Donovan is true. He is the attorney that negotiated for the release of Gary Powers. He did become the President of a well-known university in Brooklyn, New York.

All references to aircraft, pilots, and procedures are all made up for the occasion. Some references may be true or correct, as the case may be, but only by accident.

The reference to drones that carry people is only an extension of the idea of a space ship.

It was a distinct pleasure to write about Matt, Ashley, Anna, the General, and the Sir Charles Bunday. They are foremost in my imagination. The doctors and medical terminology are just imagined, and anything medical is just made up from reading the Internet. Any reference to doctor’s conventions and procedures are imagined.

As far as the methodology of Chapter 1 is concerned, the reference is Ellenberg, J., How Not to Be Wrong: The power of Mathematical Thinking, New York: The Penquin Press, 2014, pp. 5-8. Ellenberg gives the scientist as Abraham Wald and name of the mathematical concept is survivorship bias. The name reverse mathematics was just a literary convenience. After all, this is a novel.

My wife Margaret proof read the manuscript for spelling and other errors and did a magnificent job of it. Our daughters Kathryn and Karen helped me whenever necessary and did so with great pleasure. They are wonderful inspiration.

Thanks for reading the book. The book follows the usual procedure of no violence, no sex, and no bad language. It is accessible to readers of all ages.