John Livingstone's adventures abroad in the service of his country make fun reading.

Photo: By Jove- John Livingstone in 1954 as a U.S. intelligence officer in Austria.

Carmel war hero, photographer, spy and author John Livingstone has lived through the worst parts of the last century, defended our nation''s freedom, and traveled all corners of the globe. Now living in Carmel, where he owns a public relations and photography business, Livingstone will be at Bookworks Saturday signing copies of his memoirs, The Importance of Being from Oshkosh.

Livingstone''s book chronicles a life filled with wild adventures, including growing up in Wisconsin, fighting with Patton''s Third Army in World War II, and serving as an intelligence officer in post-war Europe. He writes with a voice that is practical and funny. His account of life as a child during the Great Depression allowed me to understand what it was like to live during that time. His perspective on teachers, parents, violin lessons, bullies, fancy cars, classrooms, and money appealed to the child in me. He describes himself as a boy who used his high IQ to compensate for his low self-esteem. For example, he relates how he drove his Spanish teacher crazy with his constant need to show the class he knew more about Spanish than she did.

Livingstone went on to join the Army at the end of the Second World War, and he describes his experiences liberating slave labor camps in Germany and ferreting out secrets as a combat intelligence officer. His life in the army, and afterwards as an American spook, was full of the adventure that he sought when he enlisted, something he admitted that he did at least partly to get out of Oshkosh. The titles of his chapters hint at the kinds of stories he tells: "Breakfast with Britta: A lesson in counter-seduction;" "Shoot-Out in the Rue Reamur Corral;" and "Mother Meets the Countess" are a few examples.

Once, while walking to a class on warfare he was teaching in post-war Paris, he spotted a KGB agent staring him down through the side window of a car. The man had binoculars trained on him. Livingstone took off at top-speed, running down an alleyway and into a barbershop where he sat down in the chair and demanded to be covered with towels, fearing for his life if he were followed.

"It was the end of the Cold War but the secret police were playing for keeps and I was fearful that I would be shot, tortured, or killed by the KGB," he recalls.

Other stories of shoot-outs in the streets of downtown Paris, European boat rides, close calls on European highways, and tales of counter seduction make this book a lively read.

Until now, Livingstone has been best known as a photographer. He captured his years overseas in prize-winning prints that have been exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution and the Pentagon. His book Fifty Years Behind the Len is a selection from his large collection of documentary photos of the life he led in mid-century Europe, as well as more recent photos of celebrities on the Central Coast. With this book of memoirs, he finally tells the tales behind those pictures.

John Livingstone will sign copies of The Importance of Being From Oshkosh Saturday from 1-3pm at Bookworks in Pacific Grove.