​Sound & Silence, An Unfolding Story

(A personal musing from our founder Alexander)

I was so fortunate to have parents that were avid readers. At a very young age, they introduced me to mystery, fantasy, biography and the enchanting art of storytelling. By the age of 5, I was already dragging my mother to the bookstore every month to get the latest edition of the Hardy Boys Case Files, a series of teenage crime capers for kids. I was enthralled by those books, the Hardy boys became my virtual friends and heroes. They enriched my mind, excited my heart and expanded my world.

As I got older I fell in love with science fiction, historical fiction and American classics, especially the work of John Steinbeck, reading his East of Eden no less than three times. During high school I discovered the versatile works of Michael Crichton, and it's difficult to encapsulate the incredible worlds he created for my fertile mind. I used to skip school just to stay in bed and devour his books. How he was able to blend reality and fantasy in so many mind-bending ways, is still a mystery to me. Most authors are thematic, but Crichton was beyond genre. You never knew what he would write about next, you just knew it would be unique, educational and epic. Truly a mark of incredible genius.

However, it was not his fiction, but his biographic book "Travels", which touched... 

Read More