John E Beerbower – författare

Sometime during 2013, I became aware of my first symptoms.

I was diagnosed in March 2015. I rushed to finish the book I was writing since my retirement in March 2011. Under a perceived shortage of time, I decided to self-publish. The book was out by mid-2016. By early 2018, I was getting restless. I started writing again. Naturally, much of what I wrote concerned my experiences with ALS. Having learned how to publish a book, I indulged myself. I have now three more. While reading posts from sufferers of ALS, whether patients or care-givers, I concluded that there might be benefits if I made my writings more accessible. So, I gathered the relevant chapters from the three books, added a preamble and some final notes and went "to press".

For a small but very special audience.

May some find help.



More reminisces and inquiring commentary as I embark on my ninth year following my diagnosis with ALS. Like the last two collections, I have written these essays with my eyes, reading the sources using the Kindle app. My childhood memories are probably of interest only to those who may share some of them, but it does add to the picture (pictures) presented in the first three Wanderings books. The others, only to other old-fashioned reactionaries like me. Otherwise, I just continue to wander and to wonder. Now, I am reading several books at once to keep the mind working. 

A long time colleague and friend wrote:

"Remarkable. 

Even God needed Moses''s hand to write the Pentateuch. 

And you are,

with the exception of certain passages in Genesis

and Exodus,

a better writer ...." 

The four books in my Wanderings series contain many essays on politicized topics. I decided to collect them in one place, arranged by related subjects, covering most of the big issues of today: racism, climate change, abortion, inequality, heredity, nationalism, patriotism. I call it "Politics," based on an unusual definition attributed to the late Christopher Boehm, formerly the Director of the Jane Goodall Research Center. I would clarify it by adding "attainable" before "directions" and "rational" before "arguments", making it less Utopian but also more aspirational. It seems silly to do more than dream about societies that can never exist; and we can at least hope for rational argument. I believe that these essays meet both criteria. 

"[T]he essence of politics: 

the ability to reflect consciously 

on different directions one''s society could take, 

and to make explicit arguments why 

it should take one path rather than another."

In May 2023, I became concerned again that I would run out of time and, frankly, was feeling worn out. So, I wrapped up my writing projects and published them. Then, during that summer, I resumed reading, then writing. The master of the book Politics became longer, as I revised and expanded it. It seems one cannot discuss politics without considering history and ideologgy. And, I felt the original title was now too narrow. Thus, I added to the title as well.

A skeptical examination of what we call the sciences, focusing on the important things that we still do not know about nearly everything that really matters. [Updated through 2021.] "The perspective of this book differs from that of most books that one would find in the popular science section of a library or bookshop. I do not undertake to surprise or educate the reader with examples of the marvelous discoveries of science and the amazing things that we have come to learn about the world around us. Instead, and of more importance, I try to show the reader what we do not know, illustrating both the scope and the depth of our ignorance. ...The point that I seek to establish in the following pages is that despite the astonishing achievements and practical consequences of technology, science has been remarkably unsuccessful. Upon a close examination, the lack of actual knowledge about and real understanding of the deeper fundamentals of reality are among the most striking and surprising characteristics of modern science. And, this is not bad news. To the contrary, our ignorance is a source of wonder... ." John majored in economics at Amherst College, receiving a BA, summa cum laude, in 1970. He received his JD, magna cum laude, from The Harvard Law School in 1973. Following law school, he did post-graduate research at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. In late 1974, John began a 37-year career as a commercial litigator with a major law firm in New York City. He retired from the practice of law in 2011, after which he located just outside of Cambridge, England, to enjoy the facilities of the University. In March 2015, however, John was diagnosed with ALS (motor neuron disease). As a result, he returned to the U.S. He has been living in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia, with his daughter Sarah and her Rhodesian Ridgebacks. His son John Eliot and daughter-in-law Megan, with his two grandchildren Hannah and Jeffrey, live nearby.

Diagnosed with ALS in March 2015 and confined to a wheelchair by late 2016, the author occupied himself with meditation, reading and watching operas through Met On Demand. But, an active mind in an increasingly useless body needed some affirmative participation in the world, something less passive. These essays are the result. Ranging from intensely personal to dryly academic (from dying to taxation), they reflect the matters that caught his mind''s attention and as to which he discovered that he had strong opinions. They are individually independent and can stand alone, but there is some substantive overlap. Of course, the world view expressed in each is the same. John majored in economics at Amherst College, receiving a BA, summa cum laude, in 1970. He received his JD, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1973. Following law school, he did post-graduate research at Trinity College, University of Cambridge. In late 1974, John began a 37-year career as a commercial litigator with a major law firm in New York City. His cases spanned many industries and technologies. John retired from the practice of law in 2011, after which he relocated to a small village outside of Cambridge, England. In March 2015, however, John was diagnosed with ALS (motor neuron disease). As a result, he decided to return to the U.S., to live in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, with his daughter Sarah and her Rhodesian Ridgebacks. His son John Eliot and daughter-in-law Megan, with his two grandchildren Hannah and Jeffrey, live nearby.

My father grew up on a small farm in a very small town in northwestern Ohio, appropriately called Hicksville. Its claim to fame is that it is mentioned in Huckleberry Finn. My mother''s father during the 1930s worked at the YMCA so that his family could eat meals in the cafeteria. That was his pay. My parents both graduated from Ohio State University. They married right after my father returned from Italy, where he had served in the army during WWII. 

I grew up in Northville, a small town in southern Michigan. Everyone was either management or labor, and everyone supported either Michigan or Ohio State (in football). Our town was economically diverse, but otherwise pretty homogeneous. Our minorities were the Catholics. 

My father was quite successful over time. We moved to Oakwood, a suburb of Dayton, Ohio, which was much less economically diverse (but there were more different religions). My parents lived quite well after all four kids were through college and had several wonderful years of travel and adventure after he retired.

These are my stories... .

Diagnosed with ALS in 2015 and confined to a wheelchair in 2018, he wrote his first collection of essays, entitled Wanderings of a Captive Mind. A second set of essays, The Eyes Have It (Wanderings Part 2), was written entirely using his eyes. Those essays are by practical necessity shorter and without the many references. This new set, also written primarily with his eyes, is Part 3 of Wanderings. 

And, as J.R.R. Tolkien wrote: 

"Not all those who wander are lost... ."

Born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in Northville, Michigan, John majored in economics at Amherst College (Class of 1970) and received his J.D. from The Harvard Law School in 1973. Following law school, he did post-graduate research at the University of Cambridge (Trinity College). In late 1974, John began a 37-year career as a commercial litigator with a major law firm in New York City. John retired from the practice of law in 2011 and, shortly thereafter, located just outside of Cambridge, England. 

In March 2015, however, after his diagnosis, he returned to the U.S., settling in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. His daughter Sarah and his son John Eliot and daughter-in-law Megan, with his two grandchildren, Hannah and Jeffrey, all live nearby.

John retired from the practice of law in 2011 and, shortly thereafter, located just outside of Cambridge, England. From 2011 through 2015, he wrote his first book, Limits of Science, published in 2016. Subsequent editions, updated through mid-2022, are entitled Important Things We Don''t Know. Diagnosed with ALS in 2015 and confined to a wheelchair by 2018, John wrote his first collection of essays, Wanderings of a Captive Mind, published in 2021. This new, second set of essays was written, largely during 2021, entirely using just his eyes. They are by practical necessity shorter than, and without the many references of, the essays in his prior collection.

John explains:

"Now that I am ''immune'' to embarrassment, I can ''speak''. I need not hide my opinions. I do not worry anymore about offending people (not so much anyway). I dealt with my prejudices through reason and reasoning. I ''thought'' myself to acceptance and tolerance, even though I did not much like people. ...An old friend said, when reading Wanderings, that ''Although I have to admit that your points of view do not fall comfortably into a "PC compatible" category, I do not find them in the least ''offensive.'' You have brought a fierce belief in rational argument to bear on subjects that are seldom considered appropriate to reasoned debate. At this point ... in my life, I do not share your faith in logical arguments.​'' Actually, it is a fierce belief in the powerfulness of reasoning itself, for oneself, not for argument or persuasion. The need to understand, to see, to try to know, even though inevitably doomed to failure."

Born in Columbus, Ohio, and raised in Northville, Michigan, he majored in economics at Amherst College (Class of 1970) and received his J.D. from The Harvard Law School in 1973. Following law school, he did post-graduate research at the University of Cambridge (Trinity College). In late 1974, John began a 37-year career as a commercial litigator with a major law firm in New York City. In March 2015, however, after his diagnosis, he returned to the U.S., settling in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. His daughter Sarah and his son John Eliot and daughter-in-law Megan, with his two grandchildren, Hannah and Jeffrey, all live nearby.

These essays are on topics reflecting the intersection of science and humankind. They concern time, consciousness, beauty, probability, and understanding. They supplement and compliment my book Important Things We Don''t Know (About Nearly Everything) and are presented here as an accompaniment to that book. 

But, this volume can stand on its own. 

For several years, I periodically updated Important Things. But, I decided to leave the last edition as the last. Yet, I keep reading and thinking. So, I have been writing short essays on scientific subjects and including them in my Wanderings books. There are now enough that I thought it worth making them (updated and revised-in some cases, very substantially), along with some new ones, separately available as an addendum to the original book.