Yesterday we learned that my nephew Steven's book on the philosophy of martial arts will appear in July. Hosannas to him. Steven's wife, Terrylynn, has a book out on criminal justice.
It's a writing family. The direct descendants of Isaiah and Eta have produced books on a wide variety of subjects.
It began when my father construed and annotated the standard form of real estate contract. And then my brother Jon published that novel about the dance and another family member of his generation wrote that introductory book about Shakespeare and a bunch of stuff on English literature. NGP''s book on election technology. My cousin Marian's twin daughters (upon whom I haven't set eyes since their grandfather's funeral, which was in 1965, I believe) have written a number of books. Nancy, a folklorist wrote about the hammered dulcimer and about musical instrument making in New York in earlier centuries. Nora, a medical anthropologist, has written a classic account of sign-language on Nantucket as well as volumes about third-world medicine. And then there's Eve's journalism (not yet in hardcover). If we look to the descendants of Isaiah's father, we can include Hiram C's book on global justice.
I bet there are other books -- I've lost track of many members of the extended family.
Also: my sister-in-law Ellen's book on the internet; my daughter-in-law's writings on advanced technology, and probably all sorts of other things by non-genetic family members.
I have no statistics, but I'd guess there's a higher concentration of published authors in our family than in most. Is there a gene for scribbling?
It's interesting to me that except for the one novel, there are no other stories, poetry, screenplays.Our inheritance: facts rather than fantasy.
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