R. A. MONTGOMERY attended Hopkins Grammar School, Williston-Northampton School and Williams College where he graduated in 1958. He pursued graduate studies in Religion and Economics at Yale and NYU. Montgomery was an adventurer all his life, climbing mountains in the Himalaya, skiing throughout Europe and scuba-diving wherever he could. His interests included education, macro-economics, geo-politics, mythology, history, mystery novels and music. He wrote his first interactive book, Journey Under the Sea, in 1976 and published it under the series name The Adventures of You. A few years later Bantam Books bought this book and gave Montgomery a contract for five more, to inaugurate their new children's publishing division. Bantam renamed the series Choose Your Own Adventure and a publishing phenomenon was born. The series has sold more than 260 million copies in over 40 languages. He was married to the writer Shannon Gilligan. Montgomery died in November 2014, only two months after his last book was published.