Four Square Leagues

Richard W. Hughes was raised in Boulder, Colorado. After graduating from high school, he decided to put off university in favour of travelling. After travelling in Europe, Africa, India and Nepal, he settled in Bangkok for several years. He took some courses at the Asian Institute of Gemological Sciences, and went on to become its manager as well as a gem trader. He married and had a child, and published his first book, Corundum (1990). He also began the periodical the Gemological Digest. Finding the polluted city of Bangkok unsuitable for raising children, Hughes and his wife moved to Boulder, Colorado. Hughes wrote his second book, Ruby & Sapphire (1991). He returned to Bangkok i…