magellan

One of my Amazon Friends and Favorites once wrote me that my Amazon name is quite accurate, since he said I review books on more different subjects than anyone he'd seen on amazon, so in a sense I was a true navigator through the world of knowledge. :-)

Recently, however, I've been reviewing a lot movies. In the past I've reviewed a lot of books on language and linguistics, various science areas, economics and the stock market, and martial arts.

I usually don't try to do full, complete reviews of things, since somebody has usually done that already. Rather, I try to put observations and ideas into my reviews that other reviewers have missed. I'll often read several dozen of the other reviews about the item I'm reviewing to see what others have said, and to see if I can come up with something different or new or interesting. I may not always succeed, but I try.

I have had a diverse (some would say checkered) job and career history, having been a day laborer, house-painter, forklift driver, meat-packer and union member, oilfield roustabout, electronics technician, martial arts instructor, medical writer, technical editor and science writer, college statistics instructor, stock and options trader, computer consultant, and technical team lead at a major high-tech, Fortune 100 company.

These days I'm a retired network administrator who is spending his retirement teaching tai chi and various martial arts.

I was originally educated in the humanities and social sciences, but eventually ended up as a mathematically oriented neurobiologist, stopping just short of the dissertation for the Ph.D because of health problems. Since an incomplete Ph.D. is basically the academic equivalent of coitus interruptus, I needed to find some other way to make a living. At the time computer jobs were plentiful and paid well, and I had some computer and engineering background (and academic and teaching jobs were scarce 20 years ago), so guess where I went?

Speaking of academics, I am the great-nephew of Ernest Lawrence, a famous American physicist from the last century who won the Nobel Prize in 1939 for his invention of the cyclotron, or atom smasher.

Another major decades-long focus has been in the martial arts. I hold black belts and/or instructor rank in several arts and am currently working on my black belt in three more arts, and have been a martial-arts student and instructor for over 35 years. I specialize several areas, including reflex, speed, and muscle-control training; percussion-grappling integration; and weapons training (especially knife and stick) for beginning and advanced students.

According to medical science, I may have the fastest reflexes ever recorded (I know, sounds like one of those claims--but try me sometime). I also have a pretty good 2-inch punch (I'm still working to make it a decent 1-inch punch like Bruce Lee supposedly had).

I'm interested in most areas of the arts and sciences, especially the neurosciences, biology, biochemistry, geology, linguistics, cosmology and astronomy, art and music history, ancient history, philosophy, and of course, martial arts. Other interests include the stock market and investing, wine tasting, beer tasting, and travel. Comments on my reviews are welcome (good or bad).