Books

Reunion is a series of letters to His Excellency, Edward Scharfenberger, Bishop of Albany, NY, USA, and His Eminence, Cardinal Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States. The letters began with suggestions to bring the message of His Holiness, Pope Francis, on respecting poor people and nonhuman life to local media in Albany. They grew to include a reconsideration of the Gospels that enabled the writer, an apostate trained in science and education, to find interpretations of the story of Jesus that he could understand.

Proud Father of None is available on Amazon. 

Why let a midlife crisis go to waste? After finishing his physics PhD at age 50, the author reasoned that by continuing to work hard as a teacher, he would be helping to keep teachers' wages low. He therefore gave himself permission to spend the pandemic coming to terms with the strange circumstances of his life and finding out at last what some of those circumstances had actually been.

By telling the story of his life, the author wants to challenge what he senses are some commonly held misconceptions, such as that all highly educated people have passed more than a handful of courses in, let alone graduated from, high school. This example is not the most important one in the book.

Overshadowing the author's entire life is the threat of human extinction, first from nuclear winter during the Cold War and then by war, famine, or pestilence in the climate and ecological crises. By thinking carefully about the world he experienced and using his training in complexity science, the author finds, in the end, hope for humanity, if we act fast.

The solution to the problem of overconsumption of resources, including Earth's capacity to absorb our carbon-containing waste gases, is to consume less. There are two ways to do this: Reduce the number of people by deciding to have fewer children, or opt to pursue happiness via methods that do not involve economic activity. Better still, live like Christ, both childfree and frugally.

That, then, is the author's purpose, to tell a story he hopes will amuse the reader and counteract to some degree the vast weight of messages the reader receives telling them that their life is meaningful only if they work hard, buy many things, and have children. Because people are clever enough to live long and well, humanity's survival depends on people who forgo the benefits of having children to leave resources for the children of others and for nonhuman life, enabling as much life as possible to survive and thrive.

Why not give life meaning by respecting living beings?