A few years ago, Mike Dennis shared his philosophy of writing with me. It seems he felt the main reason for telling a story was to bring forth one from the listener or reader. At first, that seemed foreign to me, but with time I realized that it is a noble and worthwhile pursuit. Mike Dennis has “put his money where his mouth is” with “The Doughnut Boy”. It is the result of his own search for the story of his father’s life, a story that was a mystery to him until years of research gradually exposed an amazing life. With the help of research assistant, Gayle Crowder, he’s told a fascinating story, not only of his father’s adventurous life, but he’s also woven his own youth into it along with tales of other relatives and acquaintances. In this wonderful book, we will learn about the “Poulsbo Boat” and inventions that served as developmental elements to Dennis’ own growth as an inventor and engineer and finally to his own founding of Oregon Aero.
Mike Dennis
With his father as the central character, Mike Dennis has woven an amazing group of stories into “The Doughnut Boy”. With “The Doughnut Boy”, Mike Dennis joins the ranks of such great writers as Robert Louis Taylor (“The Travels of Jamie McPheeters”) and Rinker Buck (“Flight of Passage”). True to the philosophy which is essential to his writing, he has managed to remind us of the adventures of our own youth. Perhaps his telling of the stories of he and his father will elicit some of his readers to remember their own stories. Perhaps that was what he had in mind the whole time.
Brian Lansburgh
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