Ron Pumphrey came to public attention seemingly from out of nowhere. Now in his 70s, this man of mystery, who until this volume appeared had a mostly unknown past, is still considered larger than life. Human Beans is a memoir that covers the early childhood years of this wily Newfoundland icon, a renowned, and some might say infamous, journalist, politician, publisher, and radio talk-show host. For the first time, he presents, with tongue-firmly-in-cheek, the tale of his humble beginnings in the 1930s, a meritorious memoir of his growing up in Harbour Grace and on Bell Island. Fantastic and guileless, this autobiographical writing is a colourful exposition of a boy and his family. Human Beans is the first of two autobiographical works by Pumphrey, with the sequel due out next February.