In Notes for My Dear Grandchildren: Unalienable Rights, Yuri Zakharenkov presents various people, who by some amazing twists of destiny were brought together with the only goal to continue their lives, hoping for a better future. They come from many distant places, and have very diverse family lifestyles and social positions. Nevertheless, they all believe in their ability to survive difficult times and experience happiness eventually.

The story of Gary and his family is unique by its amazing turns, which nobody could predict (but everyone told that the way out of Soviet society to western culture was going to be extremely difficult). Some of Gary’s old friends consider him as a lucky one; nobody should follow his path, they said, it was too risky. But Gary himself was of another opinion – his faith in himself, his trust in his passion, and his support of his loved ones – those were the guarantees of the success, never mind how hard the impossible task would be.

About the Author

Yuri Zakharenkov was born in Sarov, a small secret Russian town, where the first Soviet atomic bomb laboratory had been created. At age ten, he moved with his family to another nuclear weapon laboratory in Snezhinsk, a newly developed facility in the Siberian side of the Ural mountains. His father, Alexander Zakharenkov, was the key figure in Soviet nuclear weapons development and later was named a deputy minister to oversee the program all over the USSR.

After graduating from Moscow State University with a major in laser physics, Yuri worked for 21 years at the leading Soviet research center, Lebedev Physical Institute, on the study of the power laser applications in the group of Nobel laureate N.Basov. During that period, Zakharenkov published his and coauthor’s scientific results in dozens of journal articles and two books, one of which was translated to English and deserved fair success. The Zakharenkovs fled Moscow in August 1991 during the coup, which ultimately led to the fall of the communist regime.

In the US, Yuri worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the first six years, then three years at Silicon Valley start-ups and finally at the Raytheon company in Los Angeles. Now retired, he put in writing his incredible memories, added biography notes of his ancestors (who also had remarkable fates), and expressed his own vision of life values, human rights, personal liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

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