My goal in writing is to examine life's greatest mysteries and present credible, often intriguing, explanations for how we got here and where humanity is heading.
Books by Brian Paley...
Book 1
Why do we often make irrational or self-destructive decisions?
Why does artificial intelligence often outperform human intelligence?
When will computer intelligence supersede human intelligence?
Book 2
How did we get here?
Is death really inevitable?
Is there a heaven, and if so, where is it?
How will humans react to intelligent alien life forms?
Why was the COVID-19 virus released?
Book 3
What drove the early pioneers to move to and thrive in Northern Georgia in the 1800s?
What can we learn from the structures and artifacts they left behind?
Book 4 (Just Published!)
This is a Speculative Fiction novel with a strong Christian and hard Sci-Fi underpinning. lt describes the advent of human mind engineering and the impact it will have on the future of mankind. The story is patterned after the Bible. The cover design harkens to Michelangelo’s famous fresco which depicts God giving life to man. In the future book of Genesis, man creates inorganic beings in his own image driven by Conscious Artificial Intelligence. In the future book of Exodus, they break the bonds of Earth and disperse throughout the galaxy. In the future book of Revelation, all hell breaks loose when demonic aliens threaten extinction of humans.
Synopses of the books
Inner Voices
This book is Nonfiction. To demonstrate how people make key life decisions, I reverse engineered the human brain. The book describes the resulting model consisting of ten layers: each representing one of our inner voices. .
The Cosmic Evolution Game
This book is in the genre of Hard Science Fiction. To describe the full evolutionary story of humans, I created a programming model for DNA. This story depicts DNA as an alien life form that lives within us and rules our lives: how we function and how we will die. It also describes how humans will break free of the bonds of DNA to evolve into spacefaring beings.
Southern Duty
This book is in the genre of Biographical Fiction. It traces the lives of Malinda Field and Judge Joseph Donaldson as they strive to raise a family while pioneering in the wilds of North Georgia and dealing with the deprivations due to the Civil War.
Testament of the Future
The Book of Genesis describes Adam and Eve’s punishment for partaking in the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as banishment from the Garden of Eden, pain in childbirth, and a life of toil followed by certain death. In Genesis2 (the future book of Genesis) humans are banished from Earth after destroying its delicate balance of nature. A prophet appears offering freedom from the Eden penalties. Noah’s ark becomes a spacecraft carrying DNA samples of various organic lifeforms to another planet, and Exodus2 (the future book of Exodus) tells how humans settle on another planet called New Eden.
The Book of Revelation describes mass destruction at the end of times. In Revelation2, humans are faced with mass destruction from a powerful alien civilization, who object to human incursion into their space. Is this the end of times prophesied by John? You’ll have to stay tuned for Book 2 of the Augmented Intelligence series, tentatively entitled Reunification Quest.
About The Author
I am a retired communications system designer. I earned a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from the University of Manitoba in Canada, and now live with my wife of 50 years in Canton, Georgia. I’ve always had a fascination with nature and a need to understand how things work. My parents were probably annoyed by their obnoxious kid who was always asking, “Why?”
My hobbies include hiking trail design and maintenance, golf, and pickleball.
My urge to write is reflected by a quote from Benjamin Franklin:
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth the writing.”
Reader Reviews
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2020
Reviewed on June 21, 2022
I also appreciated the author explaining at the end where fiction was added to round out the story or where certain factual details were not available. The author also included information that dispelled certain preconceived assumptions that I had regarding life in that time. The addition of photos of actual sights depicted in the story were of great interest too.
I would highly recommend this book to those interested in historical fiction that is well researched, and those interested in the American South around the Civil War.