Jon Grimwood - Stamping Butterflies

Mic Cheetham for fixing the contract that got this book published. Juliet Ulman for encouragement, and Josh Pasternack for tolerance. Television, Patty Smith, Johnny Thunders, Neil Young and John Cooper Clarke for sound tracking the early drafts.

The following books provided information or inspiration: Lords of the Altas , Gavin Maxwell's brilliant book on the House of Glaoua, Wisdom of Idiots by Idries Shah (but then anything written by Idries Shah provides inspiration), and The Art of Shen Ku by Zeek, for general weirdness.

Finally, thanks to Sam Baker, who sat, years back, in Gaby's in Charing Cross Road and argued long and hard about whether time was shaped like an ice cream cone or a blue marble. This book would never have existed without that conversation. We should have known it was shaped like both.

Born in Malta and christened in the upturned bell of a ship, Jon Courtenay Grimwood grew up in Britain, the Far East and Scandinavia. Currently working as a freelance journalist and living in London and Winchester, he writes for a number of newspapers and magazines, including the Guardian . He is married to the journalist Sam Baker, editor of UK Cosmopolitan . Visit the website at www.j-cg.co.uk.