Books with author Don Scott

Can you make sense out of press releases and TV programs that attempt to explain the newest astronomical ‘discoveries’ – things like invisible dark energy, warped 11-dimensional spaces, and black holes that spit out matter? If not, you have lots of company. The time to search for some realistic, intelligent, scientific answers has arrived. And those sensible answers are out there for those who are ready to listen - explanations of those answers are in this book. Astronomers have been ignoring electrical activity in space for years. Their inability to generate sensible explanations for many observations made by state-of-the-art astronomical instruments demonstrates they need to study the properties of electrical plasma in the cosmos. If, as we will claim, the causes of most of the observed phenomena of modern astronomy are electrical in nature, do you need a degree in electrical engineering before you can understand them? Indeed not. The average informed person can understand and make rational judgments about these ideas. All it requires is the time and patience to read and to think logically and critically about the issues. Some basic facts and a few new concepts will suffice. The main goal of this book is to convince you, the reader, that you really do have both the capability and responsibility to make informed, critical judgments about the pronouncements of establishment science. A careful reading of these pages will enable you to make an informed assessment of this new, simpler, plasma-based alternative cosmology.

In The Impossible Craft, Scott Donaldson explores the rocky territory of literary biography, the most difficult that biographers try to navigate. Writers are accustomed to controlling the narrative, and notoriously opposed to allowing intruders on their turf. They make bonfires of their papers, encourage others to destroy correspondence, write their own autobiographies, and appoint family or friends to protect their reputations as official biographers. Thomas Hardy went so far as to compose his own life story to be published after his death, while falsely assigning authorship to his widow. After a brief background sketch of the history of biography from Greco-Roman times to the present, Donaldson recounts his experiences in writing biographies of a broad range of twentieth-century American writers: Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Cheever, Archibald MacLeish, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Winfield Townley Scott, and Charlie Fenton. Donaldson provides readers with a highly readable insiders’ introduction to literary biography. He suggests how to conduct interviews, and what not to do during the process. He offers sound advice about how closely biographers should identify with their subjects. He examines the ethical obligations of the biographer, who must aim for the truth without unduly or unnecessarily causing discomfort or worse to survivors. He shows us why and how misinformation comes into existence and tends to persist over time. He describes “the mythical ideal biographer,” an imaginary creature of universal intelligence and myriad talents beyond the reach of any single human being. And he suggests how its very impossibility makes the goal of writing a biography that captures the personality of an author a challenge well worth pursuing.

THE GRANDFATHER STORIES Adventures of Don, Dick, Jack, and Bill by Don Scott Introduction In the late 1940's after World War II, Oklahoma was experiencing a prosperous time with the oil boom in the central section of the state. Oil wells were being drilled in Seminole County on a regular basis, and the county seat, Wewoka, was especially booming. Land owners were receiving monthly royalty checks, and local businesses were reaping increased profits. Although whites and coloreds lived in harmony, segregation was still an accepted way of life. Gypsy caravans of cars, pulling house trailers, were traveling through and spending nights camped beside highways where space permitted. Into this potpourri of humanity, homeless men, given the name hobos, walked the highways, and rode in box cars of freight trains when possible. This is the true story of two sets of brothers who lived in the rural area around Wewoka, and how they were swept up into this chaotic period of Oklahoma history. While wandering around the Oklahoma hills, they unexpectedly confront many of the afore mentioned people. The adventures of the brothers take on a Tom Sawyer-Huck Finn look as they also experience rural and small town Oklahoma.Dedication Lindsey, my oldest granddaughter, when she was young wanted bedtime stories. I started reading books that were appropriate for her age, but this became boring after some time. So, I decided to tell stories from my younger days. She enjoyed them and soon the stories were a regular part of her bedtime preparation. Occasionally, she would ask me to repeat a story, which I was happy to do. “Papa, tell me about the time ole Blackie got snakebitten,” she would sometimes say. Ashley, my youngest granddaughter, when she was old enough to understand the stories, was also a part of the bedtime routine.Table of Contents The Boys................................................1 Blackie is Snakebit.....................................5 Blackie Scares the Boys.................................7 Watermelons............................................11 Peaches and Apples.....................................14 Sipe's Pond............................................18 Fishing, Frog Gigging, and Camping.....................19 Cottonmouth Water Moccasins............................28 Swimming with Snakes...................................32 Campsites..............................................35 Weeping Willow Campground..............................39 Sipe's Property Sells..................................46 Extra Money............................................50 Possum Hunting.........................................55 Crows..................................................57 Lead Treasure..........................................60 Blueberries............................................62 Soda Truck Overturns...................................64 Skunk Mountain.........................................66 Planting Strawberries..................................69 Catching Chickens for Mr. Austin.......................71 Swimming...............................................75 Spring Swimming........................................83 Rubber Gun Battles.....................................87 Halloween..............................................91 Hobos and Hobo Jungle.................................102 New Kid in Town.......................................113 Snow Sledding.........................................124 Owls..................................................131 Gypsies...............................................135 Epilogue..............................................139 Glossary..............................................141 Teacher's Guide: Preschool-Third Grade.................................149 Fourth Grade-Eighth Grade.............................150

Elmer has just finished elf school and is about to leave the North Pole for New York City on his very first assignment. He is a Christmas elf and is supposed to be able to snap his fingers and disappear so that the children can't see him at the window. But he is the only fairy elf in his class who can't get the hang of it. Tag along with Elmer and his friends on an exciting adventure and discover the true meaning of Christmas spirit.

Independent galactic trader Ven Zaran is wanted for piracy. Trouble is he was no where near the system where the attack occurred, yet the evidence against him implicates him specifically. The authorities seem to be convinced of his guilt and have set one of their best inspectors on the case. Ven chooses to go on the run to find the evidence that will clear his name. He has to use every trick he knows to stay ahead of the inspector. Only adding to his troubles is a ghost from his past who manages to find him faster than the inspector can and knows too much to leave behind. Ven must juggle his new traveling companion and his own investigation while covering his tracks to keep the inspector at bay. Unless he can uncover the real pirate, his career as he knows it is over.

Independent galactic trader Ven Zaran has had a troubled past, but he thought it was behind him. He has a family and a successful career, but when he helps out a former crew member against a crime syndicate, it draws him into a spiral of self-destruction. His family is kidnapped and he is forced to work for the gangsters who have them. Unable to free them himself, and unaware that everyone around him is working to do just that, he caves to the temptation of an old drug addiction. As he struggles to avoid lashing out, events conspire to bring a showdown with the gangsters. It’s no longer a matter of if someone will die, only who.

Independent galactic trader Ven Zaran steps in to help a fellow trader, taking over his contract in a region rife with pirate activity. His certainty that he can avoid the pirates evaporates when he finds out the fine print in the contract. He begins to lose cargo after cargo and each attempt to avoid the pirates and follow the contract only draws more attention from the pirates. Trying to keep his income up, he takes some side jobs, but when the pirates capture one of those, Ven puts all his efforts into recovering it and ends up breaking his contract. Now free, Ven lays his own trap for the pirates, but it is a dangerous game with deadly consequences.