Dr. Barbara Ann Kipfer is the author of 14,000 things to be happy about (with more than 1.25 million copies in print). She has written more than 80 books and calendars, mostly lists, including 5,203 Things to Do Instead of Looking at Your Phone, Self-Meditation, Instant Karma, 8,789 Words of Wisdom, and The Wish List (Workman), 4,000 Questions for Getting to Know Anyone and Everyone (Random House), Roget's International Thesaurus (HarperCollins), and 1,001 Ways to Live Wild, 1,001 Ways to Slow Down, and 1,001 Ways to be Creative (National Geographic), and the forthcoming Hiking is Fundamental (Falcon Guides).
Dr. Kipfer holds a PhD in Archaeology (Greenwich University), a PhD and MPhil in Linguistics (University of Exeter), an MA (Greenwich University) and PhD in Buddhist Studies (Akamai University), and a BS in Physical Education from Valparaiso University. She is the Senior Lexicographer of Zeta Global and has worked for companies such as Google, Dictionary.com, General Electric Research, IBM Research, idealab, and WolframAlpha. She is a Registered Professional Archaeologist. Her website is www.thingstobehappyabout.com. Barbara is now an avid hiker and learning new things with each hike.
Dr. Nicholas F. Bellantoni is emeritus Connecticut State Archaeologist and an associate research professor in the Department of Anthropology in the University of Connecticut. He served as the state archaeologist with the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History and Archaeology Center in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Connecticut. He earned his BA in Anthropology at the Central Connecticut State University and his MA in Anthropology at University of Connecticut. He received his doctorate in Anthropology from UConn in 1987 and was shortly thereafter appointed state archaeologist. He retired from that position in 2014.
Dr. Bellantoni is the co-editor of In Remembrance: Archaeology and Death (1997) and has also contributed to journals such as the Journal of Forensic Science, Journal of Archaeological Science, and to the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. He most recently has authored The Long Journeys Home: The Repatriations of Henry 'Opukaha'ia and Albert Afraid of Hawk and And So The Tomb Remained: Exploring Archaeology and forensic Science in Connecticut’s Historical Family Mausolea. He has been excavating in Connecticut for over 40 years.