Links: friends, heroes, collaborators, and kindred spirits

Friends and Heroes

Here are links to a few of my friends, heroes, collaborators, and kindred spirits. This list isn't complete, of course, and I'll add others from time to time.

I told Stan Herd that I'm his number one fan. I doubt that I am, because he has many fans. But he's definitely one of my heroes. A native of western Kansas near the ranch my grandparents homesteaded, he is grounded in Nature and life. Stan's earth works are living art--literally. His canvas is the soil, he draws with a plow, and he paints with plant life. The Sunflower Field pictured here extends over 17 acres, and is colored with sunflowers, clover, soybeans and plowed earth. Stan is truly a "big picture" fellow! No wonder I like him! (top)

George Michael is a dear friend from my years at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. He was a pioneer in the early days of big computing at the lab, which despite its erratic beginnings--or, more likely, because of them--soon became the world's foremost computing facility. Since his retirement in 1991, he has been planning and executing a unique oral history of these developments from as many of the original participants as he can find. Click here to find this wonderful collection. (My contribution is here.) (top)

Roger Naylor is my novel writing buddy. I met him when I lived in southern California at a novel-writing workshop, and we've kept in touch ever since. His thrillers will enmesh you because his imperiled characters become your friends. His plots center on modern problems with technology and social distrust. In Black Rock Bay, for instance, Roger paints chilling images of self-righteous domestic terrorists. If you're disappointed because your favorite writers have gone stale, treat yourself to something fresh. (top)

Steve Grenard started the Survival Science website as a resource for scientific studies concerning the afterlife. In addition to many links, it contains original material and supports a robust online discussion board. Integral to his "day job" as Research Coordinator at The Sleep Apnea Center of Staten Island University Hospital, Steve applies his expertise in electro-neurophysiological monitoring and diagnostics. But wait, there's more. He's also an authority on venoms. He wrote an intriguing article, "Is Rattlesnake Venom Evolving?" which you can read at the Website Archive of Natural History magazine. (top)

David Loye, originator of The Darwin Project, is a kindred spirit. His book, Darwin's Lost Theory of Love clearly shows that Darwin did not envision human evolution as simply the survival of the fittest. He expected that our survival would depend on our ability to reason, to love one another, and to act altuistically. If we were to accomplish this, would you consider it to be "The Last Miracle?" As you can see in my novel, I do. You can find David's book at iUniverse.com or Amazon.com. (top)

Berney Williams is my friend, collaborator, kindred spirit, and hero. I met him not long after Betty and I moved to Kansas, and figured it wasn't just the grandkids that attracted us here. Berney, too! Berney's education extends far beyond the history of science, the subject matter of his PhD. His global approach to nearly every idea he entertains is not only illuminating, it's often downright funny. Berney's wisdom is so well known, he is consulted on every new project in sight. He was involved, for instance, with BoB and Ann Nunley and Norm Shealy in establishing the Holos University Graduate Seminary (HUGS), where, as Associate Professor, he teaches the History of Science. He is also Professor and Chair of the Energy Medicine Program at Greenwich University. Berney and I are now doing afterlife research and collaborating on a book about the ongoing "spirit revolution" in science. Here's Chapter 2 of his Masters thesis. (top)

Roger Nelson became a hero soon after I realized that my new theory (TES) predicted a lot of phenomena I had been taught were non-existent. Thinking about these predictions, for instance, psychokinesis--mind over matter in the strongest sense--irritated me. I figured that, to test my theory, I had to perform experiments that would support or disprove the theory, and I didn't want to get into all that. What I didn't know was, the scientific literature already contained a vast amount of work by physicists, parapsychologists, and others. I discovered this rather quickly by searching the web. That's where I learned about the work of Brenda Dunne, Robert Jahn, Roger, and others at Princeton's PEAR Lab. I am especially interested in Roger's Global Consciousness Project, because it tests TES's cohering in space-time. (top)

Dean Radin is a hero for the same reasons Roger is--because of his extensive, careful work on paranormal phenomena. Dean authored Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena (HarperCollins, 1997), which is available at Amazon.com. This book is an excellent source of information about psi because it is well documented and presented clearly. A number of critics, some qualified and some ignorant, have attacked the book because they don't like its conclusions, but none successfully. Dean is now Senior Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). (top)

Jack Hetherington is my oldest--or rather, most enduring--friend. We met on the first day of kindergarten, and grew up together as virtual brothers. We shared our passions for science through high school, but took different directions in our careers. Jack earned his PhD in physics, whereas I went into biology and psychology. I pointed to Jack's help in developing TES in this piece. Jack has now retired as professor of physics at Michigan State to devote himself to his family's company, PI Engineering, which successfully develops and distributes his son's invention, the Y-mouse, and other useful computer equipment. And rail buffs, especially those who use Auran's or Microsoft's train simulators, will love the products on PI's new RailDriver site. Check 'em out! (top)

I met Gary Schwartz and Linda Russek at the 1997 meeting of the Society for Scientific Investigation. Gary was enthusiastic about TES, so the three of us got together over coffee and soon became family. During that conversation, I described Laurie's mediumistic talents. This helped propel Gary toward going public as an investigator of the afterlife evidence. His new book, The Afterlife Experiments, is not only a delightful story of his and Linda's early work, it is a thought provoking presentation of carefully gathered data concerning hypothetical Ancestors. Naturally, since these findings are inconsistent with the orthodox scientific world-view, they have attracted dogmatic adversaries who call themselves "skeptics." To see Gary's response to the review of his book by Ray Hyman, PhD, a prominent advocate, click here. You can also find my letter to the editor of the Skeptical Inquirer here. (top)

(photo pending)

Linda Russek is President of the Heart Science Foundation and Director of the Center for Family Love and Health. As an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona, she serves as co-facilitator in energy medicine for the Program in Integrative Medicine (directed by Andrew Weil). As research psychologist at Harvard's student health service, she directed the Harvard Mastery of Stress Follow-up Study, and she collaborated with her distinguished father, the late Henry Russek, MD, in an integrative medicine practice. (top)

Laurie Campbell, top, and Susy Smith collaborated with Gary, Linda, and me on our first experiment with mediumship. I first met Laurie through my friend, Pat Kubis, and I met Susy through Gary and Linda. I was very impressed with authenticity of the information Laurie provided about my son, Scott, and my mother. Laurie is now Director of Mediumship Research Committee at Gary's lab in Tucson.

Susy was a veteran in afterlife research, having spent most of her life studying it. She published her 30th book, The Afterlife Codes, a few months before she passed over. I have reason to believe that, since Susy passed, she has been helping me with some of my own experiments. I've posted her book, The Mediumship of Mrs. Leonard here. (top)

Jim Jardine and I have kept in cyber-touch for years since we met through ISPE. Bound by common interests on the surface, but actually much more, we've bantered about everything from computing in the old days (when he worked for one year across the road from me at Sandia Labs in Livermore) to research into psi and the afterlife. We share the vision promised by the new science, as well as contempt for the nay-sayers who work hard to kill the infant science. Jim's website is a cornucopia of material about Scottish games (which he helps organize in Pleasanton, CA), engineering solutions, linguistics, music, birding, and charming writing --all held together with generous doses of humor. His most recent web page helps folks understand the web. (top)

Imre Soos is the valued friend I met on the Bertalanffy list who cautioned not to bend to the "Conventional Wisdom of the Dominant Group (COWDUNG)." One of the world's greatest thinkers, he has studied Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Medicine, Psychology, Sociology, Ecology, and Philosophy on the way toward exercising his creativity in prize-winning architecture in Australia, France, Germany, Austria, England, Switzerland and Brazil. This citizen of the world, now living in Prague, is commited to bringing holistic thinking into the current world-view. In his autobiography, Against The Current, Imre invites you to share in the ups and downs of his extraordinary life. His website is rich in essays, pictures, and paintings by his wife, Hedda Bianca. Visit it. If you're like me, you'll be deeply--and holistically--rewarded. (top)