Over the next few days, I shall be posting extracts from my latest book, "Paradise island, heavenly journey". My last post gave the comments of others who have already read my work. Here is the introduction. Next will include, well, why dont you take a peek and see when it arrives. So, the introduction to "Paradise island, heavenly journey".

My previous book, “From barren rocks ... to living stones”, majored upon my experiences regarding the events in Aden in nineteen sixty six and nineteen sixty seven during the terrorism of the time and the major British evacuation in nineteen sixty seven. These were major historical land marks, but it was the people who made the story so real. “Paradise Island, heavenly journey” looks back to the experiences in the Far East in the nineteen fifties. I was far younger, but history was still the issue, surrounded by people who had adult concerns following the Second World War. It is the stories of the people that will be found within this book.

“Paradise Island, heavenly journey” seeks to draw out some of those personal stories that puts the meat into the years lived out in the world, the real history that exceeds the isolation of politics on their own.

Someone rightly said that no man is an island. We see the wealth of our personal stories as we see how we interact with each other, and as the stories of those we have walked the journey of life with reveal how we each have some influence upon each other. We have a story to tell because the story of another has guided us onto a new milestone of life. This book speaks of my early life and the family I grew up with, but it also will draw on the stories of those who touched our lives as individuals and also as a family.

 During my own schooling, history meant nothing to me for many years. It was merely a dry catalogue of dates and statistics that seemed, to me, to be so boring. That was to change with the arrival of a new teacher to the school.  He brought a new approach to the class room which opened my eyes to the present day relevance of all that was taught. His excitement as he spoke of the story was evident, and it was as if he lived out every detail of the story for himself, a real person at the centre of the events. At that moment, there was a new dimension that had arrived on the horizon for me. Immediately the realisation was there, this was about real people, just as today must be looked back on by our descendents recognising our lives and aspirations as people must always be paramount to their study. This is the heart of the excitement that can be ours today as we reflect upon the past.   

http://open.salon.com/blog/jonmagee/2010/08/26/paradise_island_heavenly_journey

http://open.salon.com/blog/jonmagee/2010/08/29/paradise_island_heavenly_journey_danger_at_sea