A Man's Life tells the story of Phil Reed's life, which began auspiciously on the plains of Oklahoma in the 1930s. Amazingly, he was born at the height of a devastating tornado. He was the third child of a mother of American Indian descent and a father who was a blue-eyed Scot, a member of a family struggled and had many ups and downs. At times it felt as though he and his family had no luck at all.
Reed has always found himself to be different from those around him. Even as a boy he was always a bit removed from the other kids, preferring to paint rather than play. As he got older, he spent most of his life on the move trying to find himself.
Reed experienced a wide variety of events in his sixty years; now, he recounts those experiences in a series of short stories. From fighting in Asia to dropping acid in the Haight during the sixties, he has lived a life on the edge. He towed oil rigs and barges in Alaska, survived a plane crash, and more. He has lived a life fully with no apologies.
