Why am I passionate about this?

I’m just a guy, a normal guy who enjoys thinking and writing about things that can nudge humanity along towards peace. If everybody thought just a little bit about it, we’d have it.


I wrote

An Unlikely Messiah

By David Hight,

Book cover of An Unlikely Messiah

What is my book about?

I wrote An Unlikely Messiah after having wondered if a solution to all of humanity’s problems could be expressed using…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Hatter Fox

David Hight Why did I love this book?

Hatter Fox is one of those rare stories which causes me to lose my sense of self.

There is no who am I, how am I, or why am I, none of that matters, all that matters is the story. This story is so real, and shows so accurately what can happen to young minds when they are raised in an oppressive, prejudiced environment.

Hatter Fox also exemplifies the true power of fiction, in that it allows us to shed a tear. We steel ourselves against the harsh realities of life, and do not weep for the downtrodden, but for fictional characters, we are free to feel our sorrows.

By Marilyn Harris,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hatter Fox as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A young doctor struggles to save an alienated and vengeful Navajo girl from imprisonment and self-destruction


Book cover of Lord of the Flies

David Hight Why did I love this book?

A classic shocker. When I first read this book sometime around 50 years ago, I was shocked at how quickly the characters reverted to a primal state.

Now, that I’m older and wiser, I’m still shocked. I’m shocked at how easily the characters went primal, because I think that is a sad reality, that for most people, civility is a thin veil easily torn by the right circumstance.

By William Golding,

Why should I read it?

15 authors picked Lord of the Flies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A plane crashes on a desert island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. As the boys' delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive, and their behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance.

First published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is one of the most celebrated and widely read of modern…


Book cover of Where the Red Fern Grows

David Hight Why did I love this book?

What I liked about this book is that it showed the lighter side of humanity.

Even though the family depicted in the story was dirt poor, their home was full of love, faith, and dignity. Another thing I liked about this book was the insight it shared on how children were often raised not too long ago, with the freedom to go where they wanted and do what they wanted, that took a whole lot of courage on the parent’s part to allow that.

By Wilson Rawls,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked Where the Red Fern Grows as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Read the beloved classic that captures the powerful bond between man and man’s best friend. This edition also includes a special note to readers from Newbery Medal winner and Printz Honor winner Clare Vanderpool.
 
Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two, dogs. So when he’s finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own—Old Dan and Little Ann—he’s ecstatic. It doesn’t matter that times are tough; together they’ll roam the hills of the Ozarks.

Soon Billy and his hounds become the finest hunting team in the valley. Stories of their great achievements…


Book cover of The Scarlet Ibis: The Collection of Wonder

David Hight Why did I love this book?

I read this short story when I was about 13 or 14 years old, I wish I had understood it then the way I do now.

Sometimes, with the people we love we find fault, and that is what this story is about, how the faults we perceive to be within our loved ones can sometimes diminish their stature in our eyes, and that their falling short of our expectations can sometimes even cause us to be angry with them. It’s another sad aspect of the human condition, and I enjoyed the manner in which the story confronted it.

By James Hurst, Philippe Dumas (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Scarlet Ibis as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 11, 12, 13, and 14.

What is this book about?

Ashamed of his younger brother's physical handicaps, an older brother teaches him how to walk and pushes him to attempt more strenuous activities.


Book cover of The Last Picture Show

David Hight Why did I love this book?

I love this story! It’s a wonderful romp through the lives of the characters, characters who are like everyday people that we could know.

It’s at once bizarre yet relatable, imaginative yet real, and just all-around fantastic. This is a story that I thoroughly enjoyed reading the first time and one that I would read again.

By Larry McMurtry,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Last Picture Show as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is one of McMurtry's most memorable novels - the basis for the film of the same name. Set in a small, dusty Texas town, it introduces Jacy, Duane and Sonny, teenagers stumbling towards adulthood, discovering the beguiling mysteries of sex and the even more baffling mysteries of love.


Explore my book 😀

An Unlikely Messiah

By David Hight,

Book cover of An Unlikely Messiah

What is my book about?

I wrote An Unlikely Messiah after having wondered if a solution to all of humanity’s problems could be expressed using only a single sentence. Deciding that it was possible, I set out to craft a story that would do just that. I didn’t want to merely relay a long stream of philosophical mumbo-jumbo though, I wanted to write a story that took the reader along a bizarre and somewhat twisted path through all of humanity’s idiosyncrasies, the good and the bad, the demented and the wholesome, and subtly, bit by bit, throughout the story, build that sentence to share with them.

Book cover of Hatter Fox
Book cover of Lord of the Flies
Book cover of Where the Red Fern Grows

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Elephant Safari

By Peter Riva,

Book cover of Elephant Safari

Peter Riva Author Of Kidnapped on Safari

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been to, and loved, North, Central, and especially East Africa for over fifty years. Only six times have I been to Africa on holiday; more often, perhaps twenty or more times, as a television producer. Working in Africa gains a perspective of reality that the glories of vacation do not. Each has its place, each its pitfalls like stalled plane rides with emergency landings in the bush or attacks by wildlife. But, in the end, the magic of the “otherness,” what an old friend called “primitava” captures one’s soul and changes your life.

Peter's book list on the otherness that few get to experience

What is my book about?

Keen to rekindle their love of East African wildlife adventures after years of filming, extreme dangers, and rescues, producer Pero Baltazar, safari guide Mbuno Waliangulu, and Nancy Breiton, camerawoman, undertake a filming walking adventure north of Lake Rudolf, crossing from Kenya into Ethiopia along the Omo River, following a herd of elephant making their annual migration.

Stumbling onto an elephant poaching, the team become embroiled in true financing of terrorism for al Shabaab –ivory sales–and are determined to stop the slaughter at any cost. Ivory trade financing terrorism involves UN refugee camps with two hundred thousand displaced Somali persons, powerful…

Elephant Safari

By Peter Riva,

What is this book about?

A documentary team hiking through East Africa collides with a gang of deadly poachers, in this gripping adventure by the author of Kidnapped on Safari.

Years of filming, extreme dangers, and daring rescues have taken their toll on documentary producer Pero Baltazar and his team. To relax and reconnect with the East African wildlife they love, Pero organizes a walking safari for him, his camerawoman Nancy Breiton, and their elite guide Mbuno Waliangulu. Still, Pero has trouble truly disconnecting from work. When the team comes across a herd of elephants making their annual migration north of Lake Rudolf, Pero decides…


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