A new memoir serves up life lessons from a childhood in a Chinese restaurant

Many parents tell their children never talk to strangers. But Curtis Chin's parents urged their six kids to ask customers at their Chinese restaurant about their background.

It was their way of showing the children a world outside the Detroit restaurant's four walls.

“That is something my parents taught me — not to be afraid of people, not to be afraid to ask questions, not to be afraid of asking for help even," Chin said in a phone interview from his Los Angeles home. “I would have to say that the Chinese restaurant and my parents are probably my greatest teachers in life.”