This Sunday, March 7th, I am celebrating the long-awaited release of my new/
newest book, "Reflections on the Nature of Friendship", and soon enough, I will
be taking it along with me on a virtual and then a physical book tour around the
USA. The book was fourteen months in the making and involved my researching
the universal topic of friendship here in the US, and involved colleagues in India,
China, Nepal, Mexico, Japan, and Canada.
At a time when friendship is more needed globally than ever before, due to the incredible challenges of Covid-19 and its variants, a book that is exclusively focused
on this theme meets a deep need. "Reflections" is devoted exclusively to taking a
"deep dive" into what friendship is, what it means, how we can learn to better live
as and with friends, and what it takes to maintain and sustain our friendships.
For good measure, I've added some spice, depth, and dimensionality by liberally including quotes about friendship from across culture and time, and many are
from "everyday folks", going far beyond the usual trendy sayings one may find on Hallmark cards. To better illustrate many of my main points in the book, I present examples off specific aspects of friendship from the worlds of music, film, theatre,
and the visual arts. One other feature is that I lay bare my own soul and offer up
my own interpretation and analysis of three of my own deep and intense friendships
through a"case study" approach.
Writing "Reflections" came at a time - in just over one year - when major events were occurring in the world, especially in our USA, that were fragmenting, isolating, bifurcating, and maddening, no matter which side of the political divide one sits. For me, personally, 2020, when the book was conceived and written (but not yet birthed), was a "merry-go-round" year, with the ups of becoming a first-time grandpa, joining a local organic CSA as a senior volunteer farmer, serving as a sous-chef at our local Stone Soup Cafe, becoming Vice-Chair of our local Human Rights Commission, seeing my parents reach their 90th birthdays. Those were the "ups" on the meerry-go-round. Downers? I had a few: a heart attack in early February followed by five subsequent ER hospitalizations, a 50-mile ride in an ambulance on my birthday, tests for throat cancer (negative), the passing of a few meaningful friends, and the ongoing challenges of a recalcitrant MIL needing to move and sell her home of 62+ years and move into an entirely new scene. In a word, LIFE! So, there's been A LOT to reflect on.
HAVE A LOOK: buy it or find it or borrow it now that the book is out ~ and let me know
what you think! Agree, disagree - regardless, DO take it in and take it on! "Reflections on the Nature of Friendship": THE book to write in 2020, and THE book to read in 2021!
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