Did you know the Nintendo Wii had a medical condition named after it? Or that the Sega Saturn almost had the Nintendo 64's graphics chip? Did you realize the Atari Jaguar contained five different processors? Are you aware that a fake website about beekeeping was used to promote an Xbox game? Learn about all of this and more in this unique trivia book about the history of video game consoles that gives you the complete stories in detail! These facts cover a wide range of subjects, such as w...

Finger up the Bum is the no-holds-barred, too-much-information guide to everything you didn’t want to know about Michael Izen’s prostate cancer. Who is Michael Izen? Good question. In his forties, Mike was a happy family man who rarely got sick. Like most men, he wasn’t a fan of dropping his drawers for his doctor to perform the ol’ finger-up-the-bum exam. But after being passed along from doctor to doctor, insisting that his nether region mystery pai...

Recent Canadian foreign policy has fixated upon Canada’s former status as a middle power within a small club of western, democratic states. The emergence of a US-dominated world and of an integrated North American economy and the decline of multilateral rules and institutions as prime instruments of global governance have left Canadian foreign policy searching for new purpose and direction. From Pride to Influence brings Canadian foreign policy into the twenty-first century by gro...

This book is a compilation of my best online lectures between the years 2002 and 2004. They cover varied subjects in History, Politics, and Philosophy. Most of the History lectures are American History since the Civil War. Lectures in Philosophy vary from logic, to ethics, to political economy. There are also some lectures in the area of Public Administration. The greatest benefit that one can derive from reading this book lies in acquiring a deeper understanding about how the world, and e...

Disturbingly Real was written just before my departure for Louisiana. Leaving an old familiar place is never easy. This mood of departure and sadness is found in this book. However, everything turns out fine eventually. And this may be the most disturbing thing of all. But who would not want to have this? Ultimately, I reject gloom and doomin poetry and in life. The book combines rhymed and blank verse. Every reader deserves to enjoy it. And those who know what it means to leave people and...

Among Possibilities was written in February and March of 2000. It is not uniform in mood. But the basic message, I think, is the same: reflection gives us reason to hope and abandon irrational fears. I am not an optimist by natureperhaps to my own detriment. But always anticipating bad things in a mood of gloom is self-destructive. I reflect on lifes ups and downsmostly downsand come to the conclusion that what matters, is that almost in any situation (perhaps even almost is just a pessimi...

This book was written in Shreveport, Louisiana. Just like with every other book, I wrote only what I felt. I hate pretension and posturing.

The form of the poems is traditionalrhymed verse, but the subject matter is anything but traditional. I tackle the topics that most poets either shy away from completely, or touch on in a cursory and often superficial manner. Consequently, expect the unexpected. Tradition, innovation, and knowledge are mixed in this book and, I dare to hope, the mix is a potent description of our times, as well as a philosophical look at the whole of the human condition.

I wrote this book in Shreveport, Louisiana in January, February, and March of 2001. I wanted to experiment with new styles and possibilities. But much of the traditional approach to lyrical poetry characteristic of my earlier book is present in this work as well. Perhaps the most important idea of the book is that people often do not give themselves enough credit for what they have accomplished. Sometimes one does not realize how much work is already done. People of all ages will enjoy thi...

This book is about love. Millions of books have been written on the subject, in verse and in prose, since writing was invented. This book is different. Here love comes in close contact with other strong emotionsit is the context, the background that are different. Love exists side by side with insecurity, suspicion, and uncertainty. Love hesitates and misses its chance. Love is here intertwined together with emotions that make up the whole of a mans destiny. And with all this, the book sta...

Most of this book was written in Shreveport, Louisiana. The poems about foreign countries and citieswith the exception of the two poems about Russiawere written in Los Angeles. The book is not as personal as my Among Possibilities, nor as analytical as Landscapes of Existenceit is somewhere in between. Most of the poems were inspired by my life in the South, but because of my background the book has a cosmopolitan flavor to it, too. For this reason, I consider it one of the most original p...

A Reliable Avenue is a book written in two stages. The first spanned February and March of 2000, when most poems were written, the second was in June of the same year, and resulted in 20 or so poems. It includes all seven poems that were published in my first chapbook ever, entitled Perpetual Mirages of Existence. Also, when I was completing the present book, I already had the cumulative experience of more than 400 poems and several poetry books behind me. Hence I felt my craft was relativ...