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Vote for Allison Gustavson

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Allison GustavsonChange is hard, but there are times when change is necessary. This is one of those times. Following words from Abraham Lincoln, that is how I began my endorsement of Allison Gustavson. Now I am asking my family, friends, and everyone else in the Fourth Essex District to vote for Allison Gustavson for Massachusetts State Representative.

Allison brings a much needed new voice and energy to the district. She is motivated by a strong desire to represent all citizens in the district, not just those of the party. She is driven by her love for all of the towns in the district, not just the one. Ipswich, Hamilton, Manchester, Rowley, Topsfield, and Wenham will all benefit with Allison as their representative.

Yes, change is hard. Many of you have voted for the incumbent Brad Hill every election for the last 20 years. We all have fond memories of Brad’s father, uncle, and the family name. But it’s time to move beyond that family name and get a representative who speaks for all of us.

The recent League of Women Voters Candidate Forum provided ample evidence of the need for change. Whereas Brad Hill prevaricated or offered up boilerplate policies that have failed citizens repeatedly in the past, Allison Gustavson demonstrated that she will take steps to preserve the rights of all citizens in the Fourth Essex district, both now and the future. Allison will protect 2nd amendment rights while keeping our children safe from gun violence. Allison will support economic growth while addressing the real issue of climate change. Allison will ensure the rights of all citizens, not promote bigotry and anti-women policies. Whereas Brad’s incumbent position was gained by adherence to party dogma, Allison is driven by positive movement, service to all the public, and a willingness to listen to people’s views no matter what party.

Allison Gustavson is by far the best choice for all the citizens in all the towns of the Fourth Essex District. So I’m asking you to vote for her.

I’m asking my family and friends who live in Ipswich, Hamilton, Manchester, Rowley, Topsfield, and Wenham to vote for Allison Gustavson on Tuesday, November 6, 2019. Please also ask your friends and neighbors to vote for her. The future of the community depends on making Allison your next state representative.

Thank you.

[This will be the final “political” post on my website as I’ll return to my normal topics of Abraham Lincoln, Science Travel, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Edison. But as Lincoln said, we must “be active, when action is needed.” I believe action is needed.]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, in Barnes and Noble stores now. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Tesla is on the road again

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Tesla and the authorI’m writing this in between packing for my trip and finishing up the 103 and a 1/2 things on my “do before my trip” list. So this will be quick.

Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity continues to have steady weekly sales. We’re down to the last 1000 or so copies (out of 10,000) and they are getting harder to find in Barnes and Noble stores. They are there though, so check out BarnesandNoble.com to find a location near you that still has stock. Or order an ebook online. You can also check out Amazon.com, which has some for sale by resellers.

Better yet, order a signed and inscribed copy directly from me.

Why is the timing so important? Because the publisher is looking to make a decision on whether to order a second printing for next spring. To be comfortable doing so they want to have sold out the first printing by Christmas.

Yes, Christmas. For those who have barely started thinking beyond Labor Day, we’re only a few weeks from Halloween, which means one thing – Christmas decorations will start going up soon. It’s time to start thinking about Christmas gifts. And I’ve been told that Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity is a great Holiday gift.

Now, on to the trip (darn, this is already longer than I expected). For those in Massachusetts who are available to get together, I’ll be flying up today (Thursday) and staying through Monday night. There’s a great family event on Saturday night, so anyone who bought a book in the store or online and wants me to sign it, you know where to find me. For those still wanting books, you’re in luck. There are several on hold with my northern affiliates (aka, my parents). Let me know if you want to get together for your favorite small talk and libation.

Okay, only 102 and a 1/2 things still to do. I’m mobile!

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Recent Abraham Lincoln book acquisitions

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Abraham LincolnJust this year alone (so far) I have acquired 19 books on Abraham Lincoln, plus two magazines focused on specific aspects of the Civil War. Most of these are recent copyrights. The seemingly old ones in the list that follows are actually more recent reprints (e.g., Halleck 1862 is not really a first edition from that era, much to my chagrin; and the Illinois Central Railroad Company 1905 is a modern disappointment).

The other dates reflect the actual age of the books. About half are confirmed first editions. Only one of the books in the list is signed, but ah, what a gem it is. Tony Kushner is the screenwriter for the Steven Spielberg Lincoln movie that won Daniel Day-Lewis his unprecedented third Best Actor Oscar. He signed a limited number of a special cloth edition (i.e., hardcover) at the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago. And I have one.

Okay, enjoy the list while I work on my proposal. Will be back soon.

Anderson, Dwight G. Abraham Lincoln: The Quest for Immortality 1982
Berg, Scott W. 38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier’s End 2012
Boritt, Gabor S. (ed) The Lincoln Enigma: The Changing Faces of an American Icon 2001
Cromie, Alice A Tour Guide to the Civil War: The Complete State-by-State Guide to Battlegrounds, Landmarks, Museums, Relics, and Sites (3rd Edition, Revised) 1990
Eliot, Alexander Abraham Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography 1985
Gary, Ralph Following in Lincoln’s Footsteps: A Complete Annotated Reference to Hundreds of Historical Sites Visited by Abraham Lincoln 2001
Halleck, Henry Wager Elements of Military Art and Science 1862
Hartwig, D. Scott To Antietam Creek: The Maryland Campaign of September 1862 2012
Hirsch, David and Van Haften, Dan Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, and the Structure of Reason 2012
Holzer, Harold Lincoln: President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-1861 2008
Illinois Central Railroad Company Abraham Lincoln As Attorney for the Illinois Central Railroad Company 1905
Kushner, Tony Lincoln: The Screenplay 2012
Lamon, Ward H. The Life of Abraham Lincoln; From His Birth to his Inauguration as President (Illustrated Edition) 2013
Marvel, William (ed) The Monitor Chronicles: One Sailor’s Account: Today’s Campaign to Recover the Civil War Wreck 2000
Nesbitt, Mark Ghosts of Gettysburg: Spirits, Apparitions and Haunted Places of the Battlefield 1991
Redkey, Edwin S. (Ed) A Grand Army of Black Men 1992
Spiegel, Allen D. A. Lincoln: Esquire: A Shrewd, Sophisticated Lawyer in His Time 2002
Still, William N., Jr., Taylor, John M., and Delaney, Norman C. Raiders and Blockaders: The American Civil War Afloat 1998
Wideman, John C. Naval Warfare: Courage and Combat on the Water 1997
Railroads in the War (magazine) 1991
The Hunter Becomes the Prey (magazine) 2004

More about Abraham Lincoln.

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Science Traveler Shows Increasing Trend in Viewership

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David J. KentScience Traveler is only months old but the recent trend in viewership has been very encouraging. The original website was started in February 2012 and the views during the first few months reflected the efforts of friends and family to make me feel wanted. In August 2012 I changed the name of the blog to Science Traveler to better reflect my emphasis on both science and traveling. [And some ideas for the future that I’ll keep under my proverbial top hat for now.]

The last few months have shown tremendous progress in gaining an audience, or as they say in the publishing biz, a platform. We’re not talking J.K. Rowling or or E.L. James type numbers here for sure, but given that I started from scratch I’m comfortable with where I am right now. As you can see, my monthly views are going in the right direction.

And since the total number of views is influenced by the number of days in the month, the following shows the average daily views for each month. Very encouraging for such a short period of time.

The key to keeping this trend is to continue to gain more readers and understand why the ones I have came here in the first place. It should come as no surprise that my forthcoming Nikola Tesla book has been a draw and I am continuing to become more and more fascinated by the man and the people who work hard to bring his genius to the public. I anticipate that my book will help raise Tesla’s Q-score.

And then there is Abraham Lincoln. I’m working on the book proposal now.

And the travel. I’m traveling out to California to attend the SETAC meeting (and will be bringing Tesla with me), then cruising the Caribbean in December. My Science Traveler site will be getting more travel science as it develops.

And aquariums.

See a trend?

The plan is to redesign the site to provide a better experience for visitors, including a new landing page, links to information about my books and other writing, and make it easier to follow the topic people find most interesting. I’ll even be offering some freebies! So stay tuned.

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Science Traveler – New Name, Same Me

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David J. KentI’ve changed my name. I’m now Science Traveler.

The Traveling Scientist was nice, but it had way too many syllables. And nothing is more important to a writer than having exactly the right number of syllables. [Yes, I counted the number of syllables in that sentence.]

As I’ve mentioned in the past, this site is a work in progress. Which is appropriate because every writer has a work in progress, or the shorthand version, WIP. I actually have several WIPs, but we’ll get to those in good time.

Note the Twitter feed has also changed names to Science Traveler. Be sure to follow me here, there, and everywhere.

Another WIP as it relates to this site is a redesign that will take place after I deliver the Nikola Tesla book to the publisher. The new Science Traveler will make it easier to track posts in different categories, and of course, highlight some of the key tidbits from my books.

More to come.

 

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Some enhancements to the pages to facilitate finding articles

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David J KentAs this web site continues to develop there will be periodic changes in structure and content.  Some of these changes will be BIG AND NOTICEABLE while others will be a wee bit less obvious.

One of those “wee bit” changes is the addition of a link on each of my individual pages that provide access to all of the posts on that page’s topic with a single click.

On my Abraham Lincoln page look at the bottom of the page “For a full list of my Abraham Lincoln posts click here.”

On my Nikola Tesla page look in the very first paragraph “For all my Tesla articles click here.”

On my Travel page look about two-thirds of the way down for “To get you started, you can click on this link or simply click on the “Travel” tag at the end of any travel post.”

I have also now provided my email address at the bottom of the About Me page.  [For those not familiar with spammers, just change the AT to @ and the DOT to . and close up the spaces so it looks like an actual email address.]

To keep up with all my posts you can subscribe via email on the home page (look under the calendar on the right hand side).

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David J. Kent, Writer is now “The Traveling Scientist”

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The Traveling ScientistI have a new name! Well, technically my name hasn’t changed, but this web site now has an actual title instead of just my name:

The Traveling Scientist

It captures at least two of my primary passions – science and travel. I’ve been a working scientist for about 30 years and have now traveled to almost 30 countries (with hopefully at least 30 more to go). Of course, there is also my passion for Abraham Lincoln, so if you want to really stretch the metaphor you can say that I’ve traveled a long way in gaining knowledge about Lincoln.  Or even that if you travel a long way from Lincoln’s place of birth in Kentucky to England you would find Charles Darwin being born on the very same day – February 12, 1809.  And Charles Darwin is certainly someone who traveled as a scientist.

Okay, I said it was a stretch.  [Spoiler alert – check back later for a WIP on Lincoln and science that is not so much of a stretch]

Now back to the new title.  Those who frequent this site know that I write about a few sometimes overlapping topics – science (currently Nikola Tesla), travel, and Abraham Lincoln.  As it continues to develop I’ll be setting up a schedule of when I’ll post on each topic so those with specific interests in one area more than another will know when to check back.

Better yet, subscribe to the site on the top right of the home page and you’ll get a gentle reminder when new content has been added.

Oh, one more thing. I’ve changed my Twitter account to reflect the new name. Now it reads as “Traveling Scientist” – Scientist by day, writer by night, Abraham Lincoln aficionado always.

I hope you like the new name, and the new look that will be coming soon.  Feel free to leave me a comment with likes/dislikes, ideas for topics to discuss, and just general thoughts.

Back soon.