Author Archives: John Walters

Book Review: The Future of Humanity: Terraforming Mars, Interstellar Travel, Immortality, and Our Destiny Beyond Earth by Michio Kaku

I won’t pretend to understand even a small amount of the physics behind the principles and theories presented in this book, but to my relief it’s not necessary to be good at physics to derive great enjoyment and edification from … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin

Although set in the 1980s, this book is actually about the 1960s. I lived the sixties in the early seventies, but I recognized all the cultural buttons Martin pushes, the references obscure and famous, and the sense of loss of … Continue reading

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Book Review: Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell

Years ago I read Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers and found it fascinating. It’s a study on how people achieve extraordinary success, and the main conclusion, as I remember, is that the key is not superlative intelligence or talent, but rather … Continue reading

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Writing, Travel, and Literature: 2019 in Review

In many respects the way I conducted my professional life in 2018 and 2019 was similar. I usually worked seven days a week. First I would write articles, blog posts, and other quick-paying copy for eight or more hours a … Continue reading

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Book Review: The Consequential Frontier: Challenging the Privatization of Space by Peter Ward

In September of 2018 I posted a review of a book called The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the Quest to Colonize the Cosmos by Christian Davenport. It’s a thrilling and dynamic look at the efforts of private … Continue reading

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The Senescent Nomad

My latest novel The Senescent Nomad is now available!  After his grown children move out, a divorced writer faces the prospect of living alone in a small apartment in Seattle. Instead, he buys a camper van, dubs it Good Fortune, … Continue reading

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Books Make Great Gifts

For some traditional reason, after Thanksgiving has come and gone, people commence a search for holiday gifts for family members, relatives, friends, acquaintances, in-laws, outlaws, colleagues, and sometimes total strangers. If you’re looking for fun, sophisticated, lively, intense, flamboyant, and … Continue reading

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Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Mediocrity, or, Write What You Feel, Not What You See Others Write

I generally read several best of the year short story anthologies each year to keep up with literary and genre trends in publishing. It’s a futile effort, as so much continually gets published, and these anthologies include only a smattering … Continue reading

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Book Review: Citizen Hearst: A Biography of William Randolph Hearst by W.A. Swanberg; Part 3: Legacy

I had originally intended to complete the third and final part of this review of Citizen Hearst after I had watched the movie Citizen Kane. I have even reserved a DVD copy of the film from the Seattle Public Library … Continue reading

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Book Review: Citizen Hearst: A Biography of William Randolph Hearst by W.A. Swanberg; Part 2: Publisher, Politician, and Spendthrift

In part one of this review, I wrote about how I came to reread the book and my surprise that it was not more easily available. As I plunged into this lengthy tome, I became impressed by how relevant it … Continue reading

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