Funny, poignant and sometimes silly stories of growing up as a poor, gifted child in 1960s Michigan are found in "Reading Encyclopedias". True experiences of a flying snake, a moose in a pickup truck, living through a tornado and being beaten up by a girl all taught important life lessons to the author. This book was his legacy project for his children and it is now available to the public. Each chapter is a short story that inspires and entertains. The progression of chapters provides the chain of experiences that shaped the personality of the author in his youth. As you read, you will find yourself in touch with your own life lessons.
About the Author: David Saylor is Founder and President of On the Upswing, an education, training and consulting company that was formed in Jackson, Michigan. He is a native Michigander and graduate from William G. Mather High School in Munising. He earned a B.S. Metallurgical Engineering degree from Michigan Technological University. He has served in a variety of positions in Engineering and Manufacturing Management throughout his career. He is also the happy father of seven children from only one marriage - to his beautiful wife Mary Jane. He has spent his life with about thirty books in his head. During a recent spate of unemployment, this one popped out. Provided he enjoys enough longevity or unemployment, he will likely write as many books as the readers can stomach. What Dave says he's not: In case you couldn't tell from reading the book, I am not a professional author. My formal education was engineering. It is surprising that I can spell "metallurgical" much less conjugate a sentence that uses the word. About twenty years ago, a former employer of mine decided that I could do less damage in management than in engineering. I was assigned one professional suicide mission after another in our company, but I failed to screw-up, so they kept promoting me and transferring me. For a fact, I can't hold a job. My family has endured twenty-one moves into eight states and two foreign countries. My wife is the true hero for staying with me through it all. Though I am no great moralist, I am significantly Christian in my beliefs. That conversion came much later in life than the time line of this book. From a very early age, I believed that people have the agency to chose right or wrong. Learning to make the distinction between right and wrong in the decisions of life comes from the moral compass of faith in God, personal testimony and good example. My parents and many others did their best to provide good examples for me. Neither, am I a great philosopher or thinker. The best thoughts I have ever had were probably in my past. Fortunately, my memory is adequate to recount some of those thoughts. I am just a guy that is entirely grateful for the varied and sometimes bizarre experiences I have enjoyed. My experiences helped shape my perception of life. Being blessed with a reasonable memory of my youth, enough idle time to write and a sense of mortality, little further impetus was needed to start and finish this book for you.