Why this book was written
In a very real sense, this book was written because it had to be written, for two main reasons. The first was a burning internal desire, a dream that I knew would become reality - in other words, I did it for me. The second reason, frankly, was you. I wrote this book for you.
This book would not have been written if it were not for my father. He grew up poor, partly because his own father passed away when he was young, in a rural part of a very poor corner in Western New York just north of the Pennsylvania border. He helped to support his family through hunting and fishing, and also by getting permission to leave high school his Senior year in order to work in a factory; after graduation he joined the Navy. I think that today's teens would not fare well if suddenly thrust inside my father's metaphorical shoes, but then again, today's teens were not born during the Great Depression like my dad, Lloyd H. Gardner.
However, there was one source of pleasure and passion that he has always embraced - books. Hard to believe, but there was no TV back then, but there were thousands and thousands of books just sitting on the local library shelf just waiting to be read. And so my father read, and read, and read, and he's still reading today... from Rudyard Kipling and Jack London and Robert Frost to Frank Herbert and Ayn Rand and Stephen King. He introduced both me and my younger sister to the joys hidden in the basement (the Children's Room) of the Portville Free Library, and soon we were both following his example - devouring book after book, story after story.
It is this love of books that allowed me to do so well in school, and unlike my father, I didn't have to leave early to work in a factory my senior year, instead I stayed and excelled in History, Science, and Math. I was also quite the athlete (good genes, Dad had 'lettered' in four sports), and because of this I competed for and won a full military scholarship to study the engineering sciences at the college of my choice. And through at all, at every stage of my life, I read book after book - for pleasure. It was this love of reading that inspired me, that made me smile, that made me wonder, that made me want to learn more about everything. My father's love for books became my own love for books - and this has always been the driving force behind my own academic pursuits and struggle for personal happiness. Books rock my world.
The dream was born when I was a teen - someday, I, David Gardner, was going to write a book, but not just any book, it would be 'something else', something different and amazing. I had read plenty of 'amazing' books before, surely if those mere mortals could do it, so could I. However, writing is harder than it looks, and insecurity often reared its ugly head; I would not begin writing seriously until I was unemployed at age 25 - it was the Recession and I had plenty of free time.
But the economic slow times would end, and soon I found myself back in school studying to be a teacher, specifically a science teacher. But I didn't want to be just 'any' science teacher, I wanted to be an 'amazing' one, a type of teacher that could and would inspire my students to think and dream themselves. "The world is an amazing place, here, let me be your guide..." So I worked with students that had learning disabilities, I worked with gifted students, too; I brought my energy and passion with me wherever I went. Teaching makes me happy, but I was also discovering the joy of writing.
From age 25 to 35, I tried my hand at short fiction. My skills grew, and the dream of writing a book became more focused, more real. By this time I had reached a pinnacle; I was teaching in the J. Robert Oppenheimer Lab at a private school in NYC (for you youngsters, he was the man who built the atomic bomb during the 1940's that ended World War II) such subjects as Physics, Astronomy, Meteorology, Earth Science and Environmental Science. I also loved Chemistry and Biology, but one man can only do so much... but that didn't stop me from also becoming the advisor to the school's Robotics and Engineering Club, faculty coordinator for the Interschool Science Olympiad competition, and even a tennis coach for both the girls and boys teams. I was living a dream. But I hadn't forgotten my other dream - if I could achieve all that I wanted in a teaching career, surely I can write the book that I have always dreamed of.
And so I began my first novel. But as I wrote I couldn't help but notice how happy I was and how unhappy most of the folks around me were. I came to the conclusion that my general happiness sprung from the wonder I felt from being alive, from being human, from being an American. While I was writing fiction, it occurred to me that I taught Science, that is 'NON-fiction', in an entertaining way - what if I played to my strengths? What if I wrote a non-fiction book about the amazing story of Humanity, how we are all connected to each other and to the planet we come from; we are even connected to the stars.
The novel got pushed aside, and the book you are interested in, Whispers from the Stone Age, was born. Once begun it began to take on a life of its own. It would have to be one amazing book, because let's face it, when America reads for pleasure, it is usually fiction - we love a good story, right? But my goal as a teacher was the same as the storyteller I longed to be; learning can be entertaining, even exciting and enjoyable. It was my personal quest to bring home the wonder of existence, to answer really deep questions about reality and to use that knowledge as a catalyst toward happiness. This book of mine, if done right, would grab the minds of those who didn't read at all, would even tempt those that read only fiction - these two categories represent the vast majority of Americans, yes? In essence, I wanted to write a non-fiction book so interesting and so well written, that not only would a 15-year-old boy be amazed, but also that a 70-year-old grandmother would put down her romance novel at the beach and read my book instead. That's a tall order, and that is exactly what I set out to do.
After a lot of hard work and focus, it appears that that is what I've done. I've written a book that many can't put down. One woman bought the book 'for a friend who likes to read' one day, and the next she came to me to say that her friend stayed up half the night and read half the book. A group of women in a local Book Club were amazed at my insight into 'male and female behavior' detailed in the longest chapter of my book, Invaders from Venus. I've sold books to high school aged boys and girls, even one deaf student that I know of, and one man who I never knew until he bought my book is actually on his sixth reading of it since the summer - even he can't believe it, but 'Whispers' has that effect on some. I know of one library director who is on his second reading, and other adults who come to me ordering extra copies to give as gifts to friends, to family members, to their Pastor, to their Doctor... the list goes on. I wanted to write an amazing book that would change the life of the reader, so that's what I did.
This book was written for you, with you in mind. You are about to discover things about yourself and others that you never knew - prepare yourself to me amazed. I make a lot of promises, but apparently Whispers from the Stone Age delivers, and then some. Even the prolific (mega-millions of books in print) Science Fiction/Fantasy author, Piers Anthony, wrote, "I recommend it for stretching your mind." Now Piers has written over a 100 novels in his professional career, many of them Best Sellers. He has quite the vivid imagination, but if I can stretch his mind...
So there you have it. Now you know the two main reasons that 'Whispers' was written, for me and for you. But there is third reason, a personal one. My father has worked hard his entire life. In fact, at age 70, he's still working up to 30 hours a week at a local grocery store in central Florida. He works because he has to, not because he wants to. He deserves a real retirement, and as my book gains popularity and readership, I know that I can give this to him. I dream of taking him on adventures, the two of us together, through the backwoods of America, to places that both of us have heard of but never visited. My dreams have a funny way of becoming reality.
I am still on a mission, a journey, and you are on your own journey as well - and our two paths, those of writer and reader, will intersect when you pick up a copy of Whispers from the Stone Age. Hold on tight, it's a wild ride, but I think that you are ready for more adventure, as am I. Fellow Citizen, won't you join me?
Thank you for reading, but just wait, there's more...David Gardner
November 2007
