Look and Listen

Biography

Although I'm an American (born in Philly), I moved to the Netherlands back in 1971 after meeting the Dutch girl I later married, and I remained there for the next 31 years. I'm now back in the USA (with my long-suffering Dutch wife in tow) and living in "Hicksville" New Jersey. But first things first: after graduating from Abington High School in 1967, I was sent (more or less against my will) to college in Michigan- where I was not a serious student by any stretch of the imagination- and grudgingly stayed there for one year before finally dropping out and joining a rock band. After another, considerably more interesting, year had passed (in which, among other things, I attended Woodstock), I went back to college again just to please my parents; but that second trial only lasted for six months, whereupon I left once again, and this time headed to Europe- where I ultimately met my wife-to-be in Holland, and finally "found myself" at the "Institute for Applied Hypnosis" in Amsterdam- from which I graduated in 1983. I had a small but successful practice in clinical hypnotherapy, and in my spare time earned a brown belt in tae kwon do, jogged 10k three times a week on the beach, and played a mean game of tennis. My hobbies included collecting pre-1914 pioneer aviation ephemera, antiquarian travels & exploration literature to exotic places, and kayaking on the beautiful canal where we lived in The Hague in a modern houseboat. I am now blissfully retired, and am devoting most of my time to promoting my book.

Inspiration

I've been an avid (o.k., fanatical!) reader my whole life (starting with sci-fi when I was about seven) and so when I developed an interest in the subject of hypnotism, I happily devoted twelve years to reading everything I could get my hands on concerning the subject (both ancient as well as modern) in English and Dutch. My wife was also kind enough to translate numerous passages from German and French texts for me. I'm sad to say that I was so fanatically concentrated on that endeavor, that I barely found time to read any "normal" books- though I was unable to resist reading everything by Hunter Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut and Tom Wolfe. Now that my book has finally been published, perhaps I'll find the time to catch up on my "normal" reading again...