Bob Goff was born in 1959. A California native, Goff is married and has three children. While his spiritual writing and speaking are the chief source of his notoriety, religion was never part of his career path. In 1998, Goff and a partner founded a law firm in Seattle, Washington, to which he commuted daily by plane for years. A specialist in construction defects, Goff is also an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University in both the law school and the graduate degree program. Never having been inside the office Pepperdine provided for him, Goff holds his office hours at Pirate’s Lair on Tom Sawyer Island in Disneyland.

Goff describes himself as perpetually busy, impatient, and driven, often to the consternation of those around him. These characteristics clearly show in his writing. He is not given to thoughtful, circumspect conversations. His writing, full of self-reflective stories, reveal his tendency to speak in an unfiltered fashion, as when he answered a call from a friend’s wife:

“‘Hello, Patricia? Hi! What can I do for you?’

‘Adrian’s gone.’

‘Gone? Where did he go? Let’s go find him.’

“No, Adrian died today.’” (105)

After graduating from San Diego State University, Goff took the LSAT entrance exam to qualify for entry into law school and did poorly.