I’ve just published my latest book and 20th book overall – In Search of the Meaning of Life (An Autobiography): Book Twelve – Adventures Near and Far
This is the twelfth book of my serialized autobiography and completes the story of my Early Years. In it, I return to Michigan State University to complete my degree, learn to study, rediscover the piano and my desire to be a songwriter, take a short bicycle adventure through Ontario, Canada, and participate in a yacht adventure from Everett, WA, to Chatterbox Falls, deep in the fjords of British Columbia, Canada. Here’s the book description:
“I’ve often found my life being guided by moments of great insight or ‘eureka moments,’ as I accidentally discovered the next direction my life should take while stranded at various mileposts and chapters during the course of my life. It seems these momentary glimpses into the future tended to occur more often than not when I was floundering and failing in life, not knowing what I was to do or where I was to go. So it was when I knew in my heart it was time to return to Michigan State University while watching the Michigan-Michigan State football game in the fall of 1979 on Bainbridge Island across Puget Sound from downtown Seattle.
I knew in an instant I was to go back to school and arranged the details of my return in minutes, not days or weeks, to redirect the course of my life. Yet, I had no clue as to what this new journey and adventure I was starting out would mean to me and my future, or even what that future would hold. All I knew at the time was the timing was right to return to MSU, as my life was stagnating in Washington State with no real end game in sight. So it was as I boarded that Greyhound Bus – was I making the right decision? Would college work out for me this time around? Would I find my way into a career I wanted to have after graduation? Would I even graduate? I had no idea at the time, just a gut reaction that this was the right thing to do. In the end that’s all that mattered, as I knew adventurers needed to know how to make decisions and stick with them. I’d made mine and now it was time to make the best of it…
My life was filled with the excitement of the open road and traveling to parts unknown, while working various jobs to fund my adventures and experiencing opportunities I’d never dreamed of before, yet I began to wonder if that was all there was to life for me. At the end of the day I still didn’t have a purpose or a plan, and life couldn’t continue carrying on that way in a never ending series of road trips and hardships. I needed more out of life than just hitting the highway on yet another adventure. I still didn’t know the meaning and purpose of my life, but came to understand it couldn’t just be adventure for adventure’s sake.
This is where I found myself leading up to the beginning of Book Twelve of my autobiography, deciding at the time to return to Michigan State University to finish college and get my degree in business. I still didn’t know what I’d do with my business degree, but felt it would at least funnel me into something where I could start living my life as an adult and not as a perpetual dreamer seeking my next adrenaline rush from adventure. Little did I know at the time I’d remain a dreamer my entire life, yet I found a way to not only live a life of purpose, meaning and responsibility, but also to continue living an adventurous life on an entirely new level I couldn’t have imagined.”
Kindle Link:
Paperback Link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1794189769/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i9
Cheers!
Mark
In Search of the Meaning of Life (An Autobiography) 
Dear Mark, lovely hearing from you and your latest affort – your new book. I guess most of us serch for the meaning of our life. If we don´t find it at least we try. By trying I mean we do our best we can, and when we look back there is a mark that we realy worked hard to reach our goals. And this is what matters the most:-)
My best regards
Ivana Tamler
P.S. I´m looking forward to download your new book and going through!!!:-)
It’s very nice to hear from you as well and thank you so much for your kind comments, Ivana – I appreciate them very much! 🙂 This is the twelfth volume of my autobiography so far, and they all describe the search for the meaning of my life in my Early Years. It was my love of adventure that led the way to all the experiences of my life, good and bad, pointing me towards my future, which I otherwise wouldn’t have found. I appreciate your support and if you download a book that opens to Chapter One, jump to the beginning first, as all my books have a Preface, Introduction and Table of Contents leading up to Chapter One. Also, each book is a standalone volume, not requiring the previous books to be read first.
I’ve been writing since high school actually and only last year broke the code on how to self-publish my books, including: ‘Jonathan’s Amazing Adventures,’ a trilogy of the fantasy adventures of a young boy and his dog; ‘The Adventures of Sam the Tugboat,’ a trilogy of children’s stories about how a little tugboat keeps the waters safe for everyone – especially children – in and around the idyllic coastal community of Beach Harbor (I made up similar stories out of thin air to tell our son when he was little); my motivational self-help book called ‘Organizational Aerodynamics,’ which describes my life philosophy and how to accomplish your hopes and dreams; and my novel ‘The Many Portraits of Life (A Novel),’ which follows seven different couples/families as they transition from where they are in life to where they’re going, by choice and/or by circumstance. Now I’m working on Book Thirteen of my autobiography – ‘Overcoming Challenges,’ which begins the story of my Air Force Years of flying jets as a fighter navigator. Thanks again, Ivana – Cheers! 🙂 Mark