Since leaving his job as Microsoft's China business development director in 1999 and dedicating his life to improving global literacy, New York-based John Wood has put books in the hands of more than 7.8 million children in 10 countries in Asia and Africa.

His charity, Room to Read, has built more than 14,600 libraries and 1,500 schools in 12 years.

So is he happy? "Extremely. Extremely," he told me recently when he was in Vancouver to promote his new book, Creating Room to Read: A Story of Hope in the Battle for Global Literacy, and doing some fundraising.

(READ the story in the Vancouver Sun)