This is not just an autobiography but an account of an era of great social as well as technological changes. Mendenhall grew up in Marlborough, Ohio, in the 1850s, where his family was engaged in issues such as abolition and communal life. He vividly describes celebrating President Lincoln's election and the effects of the Civil War. His rich life is also illustrated by his success as an educator and his love of knowledge. He was a strong advocate for elementary science in public schools, and was involved in the creation of Ohio State University, where he was the first professsor (physics) appointed when it opened in 1875. Mendenhall was one of the first American teachers to be contacted by the Japanese government when Japan's interest in "Western" learning was awakened. He discusses the three years (1878-1881) spent (with his family) in Japan, a country about which little was then known, at Tokyo's Imperial University. Mendenhall returned to Ohio State University and remained there until 1884 when he accepted a professorship with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USCGS) studying atmospheric electricity. In 1887 he left to become president of Rose Polytechnic Institute but returned to the USCGS in 1889 as a superintendent. His involvement (while at the USCGS) with the Lighthouse Boards and the U.S. and Canadian Boundary Commission, and his participation in the First Bering Sea Commission and (as the U.S. Delegate) in the International Electricity Congress in 1893, are described in great detail. File includes a bibliography gathered by Professor Masao Watanabe, visiting scholar at Harvard-Yenching Institute, and a five-page biography of Mendenhall by George R. Putnam.