"Troublemaker," the memoir of "Education Next" senior editor and veteran education reformer Chester E. "Checker" Finn Jr., weaves into the chronicle of Finn's life and career the broader history of education reform, in which he has played a vital and sometimes rambunctious role. Currently president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he chairs the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, Finn has served as assistant secretary for research and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt University, staff assistant to the president of the United States (Richard Nixon), and counsel to the U.S. ambassador to India (Daniel Patrick Moynihan). He has written 15 books and more than 400 articles and serves on numerous boards. This article presents some excerpted highlights from "Troublemaker." The first part spans the early education of a "nerdy, unathletic, braces-and-glasses-wearing kid who would sometimes wake up early to read the encyclopedia" through Finn's memorable stint as a high school social studies teacher. The second part recounts some of his experiences at the Department of Education during the 1980s: working to bring the fruits of education research to America's classrooms and a professional accomplishment he views among his most important, revamping the National Assessment of Educational Progress. (Contains 1 figure.)