Exactly the Boost I Needed

Dateline: Boscobel WI, 2 April

The day after we say good-bye to my Dad in a funeral that was tough for us all, I got this bit of happy news from Amazon.com. After hovering at 80,000 "feet" in terms of sales ranking, today I jumped up to 8,062.

Not bad for starting out at just over 2 million about 8 weeks ago. Of course, I might jump right back up to 80,000 tomorrow, but for now, I feel a whole lot better about 27 April, the day the book comes out.

Someone also sent me email today telling me the Washington Times made mention of the book today. Haven't found it yet myself, but here's the nice part: her international committee on future of AV-8B, the tilt-rotor Marine aircraft, is meeting in Newport at the end of the month. Several members are retiring, and this officer wants to give each a signed copy of my book as a going-away present!

On a sunny day when I feel so dead inside, these little gifts make me feel just a little less lonely sitting in this house, where my Dad no longer roams.

The sad thing is: he's the person I'd most want to tell right now.

Postscript

Book shelf



Thomas P.M. Barnett, a nationally recognized professor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I., will soon share his strategic vision with the rest of the country.

Putnam later this month is releasing Mr. Barnett's new book, "The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century."

"Like Alvin Toffler's groundbreaking work 'Future Shock,' Barnett's book is about the way the world is changing and the effect of those changes," says a Putnam preview. "His bold new visual depiction of the world's potential trouble spots ó backed up by insightful political, economic and historical analysis ó has, in fact, become the Pentagon's new map for strategic planning and operations. He examines and explains how future threats to national and international security will arise and presents a new national security strategy for meeting those threats ó economically, politically and operationally."

Mr. Barnett was in a good position to see his ideas adopted. Until June last year, he was assistant for strategic futures in the Pentagon's office of force transformation.

~ Washington Times, Inside the Ring, April 2, 2004

http://www.washtimes.com/national/inring.htm