at some point in the odyssey of our lives, most of us have been affected by caring adults who made a difference: their advice, their guidance, their example led us to encounter the world. the person who changed my life is a collection of essays in which individuals who have distinguished themselves in their fields write about the men and women who served as their mentors. 　　 among the contributors are edward asner, alec baldwin, joy behar, harry belafonte, carol bellamy, tony bennett, bill bradley, helen gurley brown, elaine chao, julia child, kenneth cole, cindy crawford, waltercronkite, elizabeth dole, hugh downs, marian wright edelman, gloria estefan, geraldine ferraro, whoopi goldberg, tipper gore, stephen jay gould, pete hamill, kitty carlisle hart, james earl jones, thomas kean, larry king, maya lin, peter max, dina merrill, tony randall, christopher reeve, geraldo rivera, martin sheen, tabitha soren, joe torte, lillian vernon, eli wallach, christinetodd whitman, and many more. 　　 the seventy-eight contributors evoke the people who had a lasting influence on their personal or professional lives. in so doing, they tell us something very meaningful about themselves. in this varied collection of essays, the word mentor takes on many different meanings--we read about favorite teachers, close friends, older coworkers, and even fictional characters. 　　 in the foreword, first lady hillary rodham clinton writes about her own experiences with mentoring and emphasizes the importance of getting involved in programs to help children in the early grades by giving them positive adult role models. and in the introduction, matilda raffa cuomo describes how mentoring works and how you can become a mentor and start a mentoring organization in your community.