I’m motivated by people’s responses.
My mind exploded with new possibilities for making a better world because I read Foundation. The principles of using science and human understanding to map the fall of a civilisation became tangible. This is how we protect the world, the universe, each other.
I was only 17.
I knew then I would attend university. I failed high school but entered uni via the Principal’s Recommendation scheme. I was the first in my family to do so. I knew at university that I would write a book some day.
Another shift came at 18.
With stark horror I realised the manipulative powers of the media and news broadcasts with Charlotte’s Web. I stopped watching television and have paid little attention to newspapers since. I conduct my own research into news items framed within economic ideology and monopolies of violence.
Deep revulsion of groupthink entered my consciousness while reading The Crucible. Whether reinforced by religion, nationalism or mere ignorance, thoughtless action is surely the mark of devolution in our species. The mob mentality is our enemy. The brutal truth must be our touchstone.
I entered university at 19.
She murdered her children so they would know love as they were sent to Hades. The townsfolk and her duplicitous husband were all consumed in vengeance. The gods saw fit to rescue her on a chariot drawn through the skies. Medea informed me that the laws of men and the laws of gods are not the same, that a higher morality coexists with ours. I have sought to identify this higher morality all my life.
In my late twenties, I applied to work on the JET Programme. The prerequisite for working in Japan was holding a degree. I left Australia 6 months later.
Over the next 20 years, I read a lot. Mostly educational documentation but, always, my understanding and interpretation aligned with the principles of human betterment, authenticity and conscious learning in those books.
In my mid-40s, it was time for me to start writing.
Science fiction and historical fantasy are most appealing. Through my academic studies, I have also tried my hand at autobiography and genre blending. Exploring the written word beckons new adventures for both me as the author and you as the reader.
How would my life have gone if I had not read that one book, that book which prompted me to pursue psychology, that degree which got me into Japan, that country which inverted my every assumption and expectation?
What would our lives be without books?