NEW BOOK. Modern Weights and Measures Regulation in the United States: A Brief History
9-7-2021
Yesterday, I submitted the manuscript of my most recent book, Modern Weights and Measures Regulation in th United States: A Brief History, to Routledge. My undertsanding is that it may be published in December of this year. I will providee more information as it becomes available.
Presently, I am working on three writing projects:
(1) The Unconventional Memoir of an Ordinary Person. The first draft is complete and I am conducting a major edit.
(2) Essays on Everything: Micro-essays for the Very Curious. Non-fiction. Outline done. Some essays complete. A sample was presented in an earlier blog.
(3) Enewetak Atoll. Mystery/suspense. Research completed. Working on book outline.
I expect that I will finish the Memoir first and then try to find a publisher.
I am enjoying what may be the last stretch of very warm weather here in northern Colorado. We jumped from Winter to Summer - skipped Spring. Snow in mid-May then 90s in mid-June. I hope we don't skip Fall - it is one of my favorite times. But, it does snow here in October. Now that I am vaccinated, I have returned to playing racquetball. I walk a lot but avoid crowds like CSU football games. I wear a mask indoors. I have to say, I am getting tired of COVID-19. I am scheduled for the booster (3rd shot) in two weeks - one of the only benefits of turning 70.
Stay safe! I can't afford to lose any readers. A good tip - buy all my books and stay in your house and read :-)
Take care. Until next time....
Craig
Blog #8 Some Unique Features of My Earlier Books
7-25-2021
My decision to begin a third career as a writer was founded on a key precept: "Write books on subjects that I would like to read but can't find."
What I meant is that I would only: (1) write books about subjects that hadn't been written about already or, if there were book published, they hadn't adequately covered the subject; (2) write using unique features that make my books more informative and entertaining; and (3) write using a style that is creative. Unfortunately, as a result, my books have often only appealed to a relatively narrow slice of the reading public. Let me illustrate with a few examples:
My first book, a history, The Blasphemy Trial of Charles B. Reynolds: Morristown, New Jersey, May 19-20, 1887 (2011), remains the only book on that subject. It describes the impact on society of the freethought movement in 19th century America. Adherents to 18th-century deism were naturally attracted to the freethought movement. The Reynolds blasphemy trial in 1887 was the precursor of the Scopes 'monkey' trial of 1925. Both represented key battles in the war between science and religion that ushered in the modern secular age.
Subsequently, in 2017, I wrote, On Trial for Blasphemy: The State of New Jersey v. Charles B. Reynolds, a stage play based on the history book written 6 years previously. The narrator, and The New York Times reporter, was a pioneering female reporter whose character was patterned after famed newspaper reporter Nellie Bly. She is spotlighted and turns to speak directly to the audience 'interpreting' the trial proceedings. The narrator interviews the principal characters in between court sessions to provide background for the audience. The narrator is the only invented character – the rest of the play is historical and the dialogue isnearly verbatim except for some portions that were edited to shorten speaking parts.
My fourth book, rain's only wet if you're in it (2016), was a collection of poetry drawn from my best poems written over a fifty-year period. The poetry is printed on the left-hand pages and commentary explaining the background of each poem is printed opposite on the right-hand pages. I am unaware of this ever being done before. I think most poets would shrink from explaining their poetry (i.e., "it means what it says"), but the truth is that much poetry is intensely personal and the meanings are, therefore, sometimes obscure. I also included three literary essays on topics illustrated by three of my favorite poems. Presently, I am assembling new poetry for a second volume.
My fifth book, Sergeant Phillip McHugh, U. S. Cavalry: Indian Fighter (2017), was a biography on a typical Irish cavalryman who fought in the Civil War and the Indian wars in the old west. He was my great-great-great uncle on my father's side. I inherited his cavalry sabre and a photo of his sister Kate plus a 3-inch newspaper clipping obituary from Allentown in eastern Pennsylvania. McHugh was wounded in a battle with the Comanche in the Indian Territories previous to the Civil War, he was taken prisoner in the Civil War but then released in a prisoner exchange and he survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn River although his company was massacred with General Custer. A book on a cavalry sergeant is not a formula for commercial success but we don't need a 43rd biography of General Grant.
Recently, I finished my ninth book, Modern Weights and Measures Regulation in the United States (2021). It is presently undergoing peer review. If the publisher decides to print, the book should be out by the end of the year. It would be my second by a traditional publisher. Six other books were self-published by print-on-demand and are sold by online sellers. They only appealed to persons like me so they didn't have a lot of commercial potential.
I hope that this discussion has helped explain why I write and why I write what I do. I hope you read one of my books and send me your comments pro and con. I also welcome any suggestions that you may have for other books that are off the beaten track.
Blog #7 A New Book is Ready - Modern Weights and Measures Regulation in the United States: How It Affect's Consumers and Producers
5-25-2021
Welcome back! When I started my web site – sometime in mid-2019 - I had thought that I would write a new blog post every month or two. As you can see, that hasn't panned out:
Blog Posts Date
#6 Focusing on Writing 5-14-2020
#5 While We Shelter from COVID-19 2020
#4. What's New for 2020 1-19-2020
#3 Recent Book – Transportation Network
Companies and Taxis: The Case of Seattle 9-23-2019
#2 Future Writing Projects 2019
#1 Welcome to My Blog 2019
I'll try to do better in the future. That's a low bar to get over because a year has passed since my last blog post.
The occasion for this blog is to announce that I have finished the first draft of my next book. The book is tentatively titled, Modern Weights and Measures Regulation in the United States: How It Affects Consumers and Producers. I say 'tentatively' because publishers appear to enjoy renaming books. I am editing the manuscript now and expect to submit my book proposal and sample chapters to a publisher for consideration around June 1st. I had done a considerable amount of research during the past several years but I didn't actually begin writing this book until October 2020. The manuscript is 10 chapters and approximately 56,000 words.
The description of the book in my book proposal reads as follows:
A brief history of weights and measures regulation in the United States - its evolution from the early days of the nation up to the modern day. Basic terms and concepts, the origins and history of weights and measures, modern weights and measures regulation in the United States, the economics of regulation, key enforcement cases, landmark legal decisions, the effects of public policy, and a forecast on the future of weights and measures regulation. A detailed case study of the municipal weights and measures program in Seattle, Washington. The impact of weights and measures regulation on both producers (sellers) and consumers (buyers) in the marketplace. For academic or professional readers. The only book on this subject from the perspective of a former long-time weights and measures regulatory official.
Includes a new 2019 survey of state weights and measures regulatory programs, an introduction to the economics of weights and measures regulation, a case study of the municipal weights and measures in Seattle, Washington, details of the 1997 gasoline dispenser fraud case in Los Angeles County, and landmark legal cases.
Transportation Network Companies and Taxis: The Case of Seattle (Routledge, 2019) recently came out in paperback. You can order it on the Routledge web site:
https://www.routledge.com/Transportation-Network-Companies-and-Taxis-The-Case-of-Seattle/Leisy/p/book/9780367729653 . Price may change.
Version Published Price
Hardback May 14, 2019 $160.00
Paperback December 18, 2020. $48.95
ebook (purchase)May 7, 2019 $34.26
The book is also available in new and used condition from online booksellers including Amazon.
My next writing projects are already in progress:
o Essays on Everything: - One-page essays on things I find interesting including poetry, philosophy, history, science, biography and more.
o Enewetak Atoll – A murder mystery/suspense novel during the nuclear waste clean-up circa 1975. Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands was used for testing A-bombs and H-bombs after WWII.
Thanks for reading this blog. I hope you'll read my books even if you borrow them by interlibrary loan through your local library. Used books are available from online booksellers.
If you are so inclined, please use the form on this web site to send me your thoughts on this blog or any of my books. It is always great to hear from you.
Stay safe.
Blog #6 Focusing on Writing
5-14-2020
With the current stay-at-home directives, I have plenty of time to write. I am in the vulnerable group after all. The hard part is staying focused. So, I have given in to my whims. I am taking some scenic detours instead of taking the highway. Instead of focusing on one writing project I am all over the place. Of course, that is really the purpose of my writing – to follow up on my interests wherever they take me. It may not be remunerative but I am not trying to make a living at it. In this case, I am working on a side project, Essays on Everything – a collection of one-page mini-essays on various philosophical, literary, scientific, historical and other subjects that have sparked my interest over the years. I have attached a sample draft here with the first few pages (essay and poem):
The Date the Earth Was Created
I recall that my grandmother gave me a bible when I was a child. The cover of my bible was embossed with my name in gold so it was special. The date the earth was created used to be printed in red ink in the margin on the first page of Genesis. I always wondered how that date was determined since no human was living back then. Now I know. Some years ago, I visited the Rare Book Room at the Library of Congress and I was fortunate enough to finally view the source of that date of creation. Archbishop James Ussher, Primate of Ireland, authored, The Annals of the World in 1658[1] It was published at London in 1658. The first entry, in this very large book, states,
In the beginning God created Heaven and Earth, Gen. I v. I. Which beginning of time, according to our Chronology, fell upon the entrance of the night preceding the twenty third day of October in the year of the Julian Calendar, 710 [4004 B.C.]. Upon the first day therefore of the world, or October 23 being a Sunday, God together with the highest Heaven, created the Angels.
Man was created on the sixth day, Friday, October 28, 4004 B.C. The first man, Adam, was exiled from Paradise on the tenth day of creation, or November 1, 4004 B.C. Adam lived 930 years and died in 3074 B.C. Noah boarded the ark on Sunday, December 7, 2349 B.C. [Pearl Harbor Day]. Noah lived 950 years – 350 years after the deluge – and died in 1998 B.C. In all, there are 907 pages in the chronology which covers the period 4004 B.C. to 73 A.D.
Adam Wed a Scorpio
Creation, they say,
fell on Sunday,
October 23.
4004 B.C.E.[2]
Who laid
the first egg:
a chicken or
a dinosaur?
Who heard
the first word:
Adam or
a carnivore?
Adam wed
a Scorpio;
he should have read
his horoscope.
The Fall of Man is
hard to understand -
a puzzle to grapple
while I munch on an apple.
Some say time began
with the Big Bang
at 5:14 a.m. EDT
about 10 million BCE -
just before breakfast.[3]
WARNING TO READER: One thing I should make clear at the outset. I am a bit of a wise guy. I tend to poke fun of things I find to be fantastic. This includes most supernaturalism. I apologize in advance to any reader who feels his or her beliefs have been the subject of humor. It is intentional. I believe that beliefs are often the source of mischief (Note: don't miss my clever wording). Beliefs, often inherited, are based on feelings and not on facts. I prefer to live in reality. Oh, imagination is wonderful and so are dreams (not nightmares) and fairy tales. But we all know that these aren't real. Often, scientific speculation is so loosely based on facts that it is no more reliable than religious beliefs. For example, the Big Bang v. Creation Story. Tighten your seat belts because I will probably offend you again in the following pages but only to prompt you to think. Take more than two or three steps in one direction of thinking and you will find that you are lost. Very little makes sense when you look at it closely enough. You have probably guessed that I very much enjoy reading Lewis Carroll who got lost searching for the Snark.
My essays will cover a lot of ground but their purpose is to prick your interest enough to find more to read on these subjects. I hope you will look for my essays when they come out. Stay safe!
[1] James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland. The Annals of the World. Deduced from the Origin of Time, and continued to the beginning of Emperour Vespasian's Reign, and the total Destruction and Abolition of the temple and common-wealth of the Jews. Containing the History of the Old and New Testament, with that of the Macchabees London: E. Tyler (1658), p. 1.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Not really, I made that up. Verses from "Adam Wed a Scorpio" published in Craig A. Leisy. rain's only wet if you're in it Manchester Center, Vermont: Shires Press (2016).
Blog #5 While We Shelter from COVID-19
Wow, what a difference a few months makes. Last December, we had no idea that we would be spending 2020 coping with a worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Everything is closed and may be indefinitely until a treatment or vaccine is found. My paternal great grandmother adopted a young girl orphaned by the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. There have been many comparisons made between the two pandemics.
I have been thinking about family history because of the state shelter-in-place order. It has made abundant time available for finishing my current writing project. In fact, I have completed a first rough draft of my Memoir with a working title, The Unconventional Memoir of an Ordinary Person: An Intellectual History. It is about 240 pages organized into 16 chapters and a preface, introduction and background. I hope to complete edits and rewrites between now and this summer so I can attempt to find a publisher. Here is an excerpt from the "Introduction" that explains what makes this memoir unconventional:
This memoir is unconventional in many respects. In one sense, it is a collection of short stories organized as chapters. Each chapter of my life is a different location that I lived. I write about what I was thinking at different points in my life as well as what I did. This is illustrated by my inclusion of poems, philosophical musings and opinions about everything. Since I was stationed at unusual places doing unusual jobs, I take space to explain background so the readers can learn about things that they may have been previously unaware. For example, when I wrote about my assignment to the Coast Guard Loran A Station on Enewetak Atoll in 1974-75, it occurred to me that most readers would not know what Loran A is (it is an acronym for a secret technology used WWII), where Enewetak Atoll is (and, what it is) and why I was sent there by the Coast Guard (e.g., doesn't the Coast Guard guard the coasts?). Moreover, it is not possible to talk about Enewetak Atoll without explaining its 20th century history, particularly the battle of Enewetak in World War II, the tests of atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs there and the cleanup of nuclear waste in the mid-1970s. For me, the need to explain all the above is what makes the memoir interesting. I hope readers find the stories I tell about life at Enewetak Atoll, and other locations, to be humorous, informative or otherwise entertaining.
I consider the experiences of my life, in large part, to have informed my intellectual development. The person I have become, and the thoughts that I think, reflect what I have learned throughout the chapters of my life. My Memoir includes my most intense and personal thoughts as expressed in poetry I composed over the years.
I have started the writing phase of my next project, a mystery/suspense novel with the preliminary title, Enewetak Atoll. It will be my first fiction book. I have already completed the research phase of the project. I hope to complete the first draft of the book during the remainder of 2020. I will report progress in these blogs.
While involved in the writing phase of a project I must stay focused on it alone. I can't help it – all the pieces are circulating in my mind all of the time. However, I do have several other projects in various stage of development. Some, I have discussed in previous blogs. These are all in a queue waiting their turn. I have shown a lot of discipline in the process in order to make good progress. Curiously, the only project that I have had to set aside for a long time was my first, an account of the excommunication of Bishop John W. Colenso (Natal, South Africa) on charges of heretical writings. I viewed Colenso, the author of text books on arithmetic in England and later missionary bishop to the Zulus, as embracing the conflict between science and religion. He dealt with it, in his book, The Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua Critically Examined, by suggesting that the Books of Moses were metaphorical and not literal. While researching this project, I was sidetracked into the blasphemy trial of Charles B. Reynolds in New Jersey in 1887. This was a subject I could more easily get my hands around and, unlike Colenso, there were no books about the heresy trial. Reynolds was a former clergyman who abandoned the church to conduct travelling lectures on freethinking in order to promote the separation of church and state.
I have never been very interested in religious history, doctrines or controversies by themselves but, rather, the conflict between the religious and secular worlds. Specifically, I am interested in the freethinking movements throughout the ages and around the world in different cultures. So, the Reynolds blasphemy trial book was the first in a series of three books (so far) about freethinking: Reynolds blasphemy trial (U.S. - Christianity, 1887); Origins of the Conflict between Science and Religion (Greece – Pagan Religion, c. 500 BCE); and Influence of Epicureanism on Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Persia – Islam, c. 1,100 CE).
I suppose that I was different when younger. I am very quiet until I get to know someone then I can't shut up. In high school, I began speculating about what I call the "big picture" – concepts like the meaning of life. I really can't account for my strange interest in ancient philosophy and secularism in any other way. My books are a bit too "off the beaten track" for many readers but they are simply history of philosophy that is largely ignored. I listened to a program about the teachings of Epicurus on public radio a few nights ago. I was pleased that some attention was being paid to Epicurus who I consider one of the earliest freethinkers. I usually depict a freethinker as one whose heart and mind are in conflict. Another analogy is of a fish swimming upstream while all the others are headed downstream. Freethinkers see boundaries in society and wonder why they are there and eventually seek to have them removed. Early American freethinkers opposed slavery, promoted women's suffrage and sought the separation of church and state.
Well, I did mention that I can't shut up once I get going. So, this blog is overlong. I hope it gives you insights as to who I am and why I write what I do. Thanks for checking in. Please send me a comment if you get the urge. It is great to hear from you. By the way, if you are bored hanging out at home, read a book. There are several discussed on this web site. :-)
Blog#4 - What's New for 2020
January 19, 2020
Hello again. Sorry for the delay in posting a new blog. It's hard to stay disciplined when you are semi-retired - and a writer. I am currently juggling several writing projects at once but giving priority to a memoir. It is an unconventional memoir. It will not be presented in chronological order by year but rather by location. It will bounce around like my mind does but there will be connections between the story threads that tie them together. I will emphasize humorous stories in my life and I will try to both entertain and inform the reader just as I have been as lived it. Chapter 1 opens with my first assignment after graduating from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT. I had orders to the Coast Guard Cutter Ironwood, a seaging buoytender homeported in Homer, AK in 1972. Chapter 2 recalls my life as a dependent on Kodiak in Island in Alaska where my dad was a Coast Guard aviator in 1957-59. My family lived on the Naval Air Station in a duplex and my dad was assigned to the Coast Guard Air Detachment co-located there. My report card in Second Grade was from the Territory of Alaska (not a state until 1959). I never thought I'd return to Alaska again 13 years later as a Coast Guard officer like my dad. Chapter 3 relates when I was stationed on Enewetak, Atoll in the Marshall Islands for 12 months of isolated duty in 1974-75 as the Commanding Officer of the 10-man Coast Guard Loran A Station there. Chapter 4 recalls my life as a dependent on Guam in the Mariana Islands and my dad was Commanding Officer of the Coast Guard Air Detachment co-located on the Naval Air Station at Agana. The memoir is told strictly from my memories - imperfect as they are - and describe a life I thought was normal but I realize now that it was not at all.
Some readers may appreciate that I try to make all my books "different" - either in the way I present the material or in my choice of subject. For example, my first three books were part of a series on the history of freethought. I tried to present the history in the words of the principals themselves by using extensive quotes. I jumped around to different historical eras and different cultures to better illustrate what freethought is. The books in the series are: The Blasphemy Trial of Charles B. Reynolds: Morristown, NJ, May 18-20, 1887 (2011), The Conflict Between Science and Religion in Ancient Greece (2012), The Influence of Epicurean Thought on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (2015). When I compiled my collected poetry, rain's only wet if you're in it (2016), I gathered my best poetry from over 50 years and I wrote a commentary opposite each to provide some context since most poetry is too personal for most readers to otherwise fully appreciate it. I also included three literary essays about my favorite poems by other poets. Lastly, the stage play I wrote, On Trial for Blasphemy: The State of New Jersey v. Charles B. Reynolds (2017), is a historical play where much of the dialogue is nearly verbatim. In the play, the narrator (the sole invention) speaks directly to the audience through asides to interpret what is happening and why.
My first seven books each took an average of 1-1/2 years to research and write during 2011-2019. I would love to hear reader comments or suggestions about any of my books or my current writing projects. One reader recemntly emailed me with two questions that I thought I would try to answer here:
(1) How did I come tro write my book on TNCs and Taxis?, and
(2) How did I transition from a Coast Guard commercial vessel safety regulator to a taxicab industry regulator?
My last book (released by Routledge, May 2019) was the product of what I had learned during my second career as the taxicab industry regulator for the City of Seattle (1996-2017). When I started, I knew nothing about the history or economics of the taxicab industry but I learned quickly. I had been a federal regulator in my first career (1972-1995) and some skills are transferrable. I had some background in economics - I had an MBA degree from the University of Puget Sound (1978) and I taught transportation economics to department majors at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (1981-84).
My transition from my first career to my second career is easy to explain. It was time for a change and the opportunity became available. I had moved back to Seattle, where my kids were born, and the job with the City became available. I loved the job - a mix of hands-on and research, field and office work. I felt like I was helping people in both my careers and that was important.
Please let me hear from you if you would like to provide me feedback on my writing. I would love to hear from you.
Blog#3 - Recent Book - Transportation Network Companies and Taxis: The Case of Seattle
September 23, 2019
Our country recently observed the 18th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Nearly 3,000 civilians were killed in that attack and we have been at war in Afghanistan since - the longest war ever for the U.S. I am sure that each of us can recall what we were doing on September 11, 2001 when we first learned of the attack. I remember that I was standing at a podium in a hotel in Quebec City making a presentation to the annual conference of the International Association of Transportation Regulators (iatr.org) when someone ran into the room and yelled out that the twin towers had been attacked. We all ran to the nearest television sets to get details. I had only presented about one-helf of my paper, "Deregulation and Re-regulation of the Taxicab Industry in Seattle: Lessons Learned." Almost 18 years later, the paper was to become the basis of Chapter 4 "Deregulation: Lessons Learned" in my book, Transportation Network Companies and Taxis: The Case of Seattle. My book was released in hardbound and as an ebook by Routledge in May 2019.
At the time of the attack on the twin towers, I was the regulator of the taxicab industry for the City of Seattle. I also regulated weights and measures (including taximeters) for the city. In subsequent years, my work unit took on regulation of flat rate vehicles, limousines, transportation network companies (Uber, Lyft) and the towing industry. I retired in September 2017 and relocated to Colorado where I spent a good part of 2018 researching and writing my book. The Seattle TImes published an article by Paul Roberts, "As Uber and Lyft Lose Billions Seattle's Taxis Are Hanging On," on September 11, 2019. The article took notice of my book as follows:
Total taxi revenues, after plunging 56 percent between 2012 and 2015 to $43.9 million, crept back up to $52.5 million for 2018, the most recent year for which the city keeps data.
"By several key measures, the taxicab industry in Seattle appears to have bottomed out and is now slowly recovering," notes Craig Leisy, who until 2017 oversaw regulation of the city's taxi, TNC, limo and towing sectors, in a recent book that uses Seattle as a case study of the TNC-taxi conflict.
Thomas Drischler, retired former taxicab regulator for the City of Loas Angeles (1999-2016) and past chairman of the International Association of Transportation Regulators, offered the following review of my book:
Based on many years of first-hand experience as a transportation regulator, Craig Leisy has written a comprehensive historic analysis of the Seattle taxicab and vehicle-for-hire industry. He has thoroughly documented the economic, social, political and logistical factors leading up to the takeover of the market by phone app-based ride-hail companies, particularly Uber and Lyft. The Seattle story in this regard is strikingly similar to the stories of many other cities throughout North America and the world, making this book a compelling read.
It appears that my predictions about the future of the TNC industry in Seattle are on target. Since the Uber and Lyft IPOs, there have been a growing number of articles in newspapers and business journals finding that the TNC industry is not only more unprofitable than ever but that revene trip growth is stalling. Stockholders who purchased shares in the Uber and Lyft IPOs earlier this year are concerned and it is reflected in the dramatic decline in the share values since the IPOs: Uber is at $32.54 down from $45.00 at opening day (-28%) and Lyft is at $45.26 down from $72.00 at opening day(-37%).
The passage of Assembly Bill 5 in Sacramento, providing that it survives court challenges, will likely turn Uber and Lyft drivers - and possiblt taxicab drivers - into employees instead of independent contractors. This new law and initiatives in other states and cities (e.g., NYC's minimum TNC driver income) will make it much more difficult for Uber and Lyft to turn a profit. This problem will be compounded if an expected recession occurs in 2020.
In my book, I predit the failure of the TNC industry as a vehicle-for-hire service if they persist with the same business model. That is, pursuing rapid growth by engaging in below-cost predatory pricing. Uber and Lyft set trip rates at about one-half of taximeter rates in order to drive them out of business but that strategy has resulted in billions of dollars in operating losses.
There is a growing consensus that Uber and Lyft drivers earn an average of only about $10 per hour before self-employment tax (social security) and federal/state income taxes. In my book, I show that, in Seattle, TNC and taxicab drivers both earn about $10 hourly - well below the minimum wage ($15). TNC drivers are increasingly protesting their treatment by the TNCs.
Up until now, there has been very little written that is critical about how the TNC industry operates. It is only since the IPOs that more business writers are openly questioning whether the TNC industry can become profitable. Also, my book is the first, and only, to be written about the competition between taxicabs and TNCs from the perspective of a regulatory insider.
I hope you have the opportunity to read my book and provide me with your comments and criticism. It includes comprehensive operating data for the taxicab and TNC industries through 2018. I may consider writing a followup book in 2020 if the TNC industry has to take drastic action to survive and to assess the fallout of the state and local laws intended to provide some employee-like protections to indpendent contractor drivers.
Blog #2 - "Future Writing Projects"
I am working on several new writing projects at once. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of lead time to complete research for a nonfiction book like a history but it also takes time to investigate the background for a fiction work. Here are some of my writing projects that are far enough along to describe:
1. Essays on Anything and Everything. This is a collection of 1-page essays on anything and everything as the title proclaims. For example: "The Date the Earth Was Created: October 23, 4004 BC"; "The Story of Isaac Newton's Apple and Gravity"; "Ancient Greek Calculations of the Distance from the Earth to the Moon." Topics will include science, literature, philosophy and religion among others. Each essay is intended to make the reader think about something just because it is interesting.
2. Short Stories: A Memoir in the Third Person. This is a collection of fragments from my life but about other people. It is not a conventional memoir by any means. Just as the memories and thoughts in our minds seem fragmentary, this book describes those that my brain considered interesting enough to retain. I have always thought that our lives are comprised of a bunch of little things and that many of these things turn out to be pretty interesting.
3. Honest Doubter: Bishop John William Colenso v. the Church of England in South Africa. The term "honest doubt" is drawn from Alfred Tennyson's poem "In Memoriam" which were his reflections on the meaning of life after a very close school friend of his died in an accident at a young age. Bishop Colenso was excommunicated by the Church of England in South Africa for his writings which were found to be heretical (circa 1860s). For example, he wrote The Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua Critically Examined (1862) which argued that the Books of Moses in the Old Testament were allegorical or metaphorical and not historically true. Colenso was a mathematician and a clergyman so his life embodied the conflict between science and religion in the Victorian Era. This book will not be a conventional biography but rather will examine Colenso's ideas, where they came from, and why he was willing to risk sacrificing his life's calling as a missionary to the Zulus by publishing them.
4. Enewetak Atoll. This will be my first novel. A murder mystery set on Enewetak Island (code named Fred) in Enewetak Atoll located near the equator mid-way between Honolulu and Manila. The murder occurs in the mid-1970s during the cleanup of radioactive waste from a decade of testing of atomic weapons. I was stationed there for 12 months during 1974-75 in charge of the 10-man Coast Guard Loran A Station (LOng Range Aid to Natigation) before the 2-year cleanup started.
Other writing projects include a followup volume of collected poetry to rain's only wet if you're in it and a revision to my book, The Conflict Between Science and Religion in Ancient Greece. I am also researching a possible book about my mom and four brothers who all joined the military services during World War II. I'd like to describe their experiences and how WWII transformed their lives.
Well, that's about it for now. I hope to have the next blog out in a month. If you have any comments or recommendations for me please send them and I will reply.
Blog #1 "Welcome to My Blog"
Thanks a lot for visiting my web site/blog! I am new at this and I promise that my blog will get better as I gain experience. The home page introduces me to potential readers and provides a complete list of books that I have written beginning in 2011. I have written seven so far. My most recent book was released by Routledge in May 2019 - Transportation Network Companies and Taxis: The Case of Seattle. It is an economic history of the taxicab and TNC (Uber, Lyft) industries in Seattle with a thorough analysis of the impact of market disruption by the TNC commencing in 2014. As my biography indicates, I was the regulator of thes industries in Seattle for more than 20 years. The book includes operating data for both industries through the end of 2018.
A brief survey of the other titles of my books will make it clear that I have a wide range of interests and many of the topics I write about are rarely the subject of books. That was my intent. I wanted to write the kind of books that I was interested in reading - and my mind finds nearly everything to be interesting. None of my books are opinion pieces. Most are histories and biographies that are meticulously documented with copious annotated footnotes and complete bibliographies. Of course, the mere selection of a topic for a book necessarily conveys somthing about the author's views. However, the books include my interpretations based on research and not simply opinions. Opinions, most often, are not founded on facts but are merely how we feel about something. I trust that you are more than capable of forming your own opinions without my help - and they may be very different than mine. But that's what makes the world interesting.
There are some themes that I sustain a strong interest about and I return to them in books that are otherwise very different. For example, I am very interested in the conflict between science and religion and I wrote a series of three books on this. The books themselves address very different religions in different parts of the world and at different times: pagan religion v. science (Greek world, 500-200 BCE), Islam v. science (Persia, c. 1000 CE), and Christianity v. science (U.S., 19th century).
My next book will be a novel. It is set on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands during the mid-1970s when the U.S. government was beginning a 2-year cleanup of radiation contamination from a decade of testing A-bombs and H-bombs. There was a contractor performing facilities maintenance on the main island code-named Fred. Also, on that island was a 10-man U.S. Coast Guard Loran A station (an electronic aid to navigation before satellite navigation). I hope to finish the book by the end of this year.
I hope you will try any of my books that seem interesting to you. I previously lived in Seattle and I know that a few of the titles would be available by interlibrary loan from the King County library system. The recent hardbound book on taxicabs and the TNC industry may be available by interlibrary loan through your local library. And, of course, all of my books are available for sale online. I hope you have as much fun reading them as I did writing them. I would very much appreciate your feedback on any books that you read and about this web site. Thanks again!