First things first. My new book is now available here: Wipf & Stock and here: Amazon.
I am pleased to report that, on June 24, 2023, artist B. Ann Moore and I signed a publishing contract with Resource Books, an imprint of Wipf & Stock, for This Town: A Complete Metaphysics. Wipf & Stock is a large US publisher, publishing about 1,000 titles a year. This was what one calls a "hot project": taken from first proposal to offer of publication within 14 days. Delivery is set for October 1, 2023.
It is what one might call a fictional metaphysics, where abstract ideas are concretized through narrative. It is suitable for teens and up—or as I have put it, "adults and teens". Being systematic and panoramic, it serves as a good introduction to philosophy for young adults in particular.
The back of a draft cover (on the left) sums up the book. While it is a metaphysics, too, it is vastly different to my first one. The new book borrows less than 100 words from the first, and is seven years simpler. There is also a shift of themes. However, Book I and Book II are in harmony with one another, and Book I remains the definitive one.
Shortly before publication, the provisional cover morphed into this (below). One sees that the style is bolder, and there is more detail on the back cover. Interestingly, while the draft cover focused more on stories in the book, the near-final cover focuses more on "metaphysical entities". While this is the trend for modern metaphysics, it may not, however, be as representative of the book's contents.
ENDORSEMENTS OF MY NEW BOOK
Here, I use Adobe-Express-Animation with MURF-AI-Voices to present three endorsements (two minutes). This is an uncorrected performance of Adobe and MURF, except for the addition of breathing spaces for a hyper young cartoon persona!
“This Town reads like a breath of fresh air in the world of philosophy! No citations, no dense arguments, no name-dropping of famous philosophers. Instead what we find are highly readable and interesting stories which take us on a series of adventures exploring the biggest issues of life. A welcome change from the likes of Kant and Hegel!”
—CHRISTIAN B. MILLER
Author of The Character Gap
“Using the deceptively simple allegory of a traveller visiting a remote town, this book charmingly interrogates the meaning and understanding of . . . well . . . everything. The boundaries and limits of objects, ideas and our embedded cultural meanings are carefully unlayered to examine our fuzzily overlapping meanings and choices. It was robustly demonstrated to me that words only approximate reality; and like Marvell's Dr Who, we swim in the Multiverse, and have to forge our meaning from this chaos. This book simultaneously reminded me of a number of things—Bhuddistic thought; Biblical truths; language deconstruction; distributed internet nodes and internally decisive events in my own life. An original, challenging work of philosophy refreshingly presented without academic jargon.”
—JEREMY L. DYER
Artist and psychologist
“A story can be much more than fiction. It’s through stories that we teach our children how the world works and it’s through stories that we communicate our values—think of the Bible. Having written Everything, Briefly—a discourse on, well, everything—Thomas Scarborough has boiled his worldview down into story form. Reading it you get lulled into thinking about fundamental questions of existence before you even know you’re doing anything other than reading a story. This book is at once thoughtful and fun.”
—JILL HACKER
Author of Problems Solved
“How do we talk simply about the complex realities of life? Scarborough shows us how with a story of encounters and conversations in a remote town where townspeople and a visitor confront together the meaning of language, ethics, reality, and God. Written in conversational and narrative form and aimed at young adults, This Town: A Complete Metaphysics succeeds in guiding the reader through big thoughts using simple words and entertaining anecdotes. It illustrates how conversations about metaphysics can (and should!) take place across cultures and generations. Highly recommended.”
—CHRISTIAN B. MILLER
Author of The Character Gap
“Using the deceptively simple allegory of a traveller visiting a remote town, this book charmingly interrogates the meaning and understanding of . . . well . . . everything. The boundaries and limits of objects, ideas and our embedded cultural meanings are carefully unlayered to examine our fuzzily overlapping meanings and choices. It was robustly demonstrated to me that words only approximate reality; and like Marvell's Dr Who, we swim in the Multiverse, and have to forge our meaning from this chaos. This book simultaneously reminded me of a number of things—Bhuddistic thought; Biblical truths; language deconstruction; distributed internet nodes and internally decisive events in my own life. An original, challenging work of philosophy refreshingly presented without academic jargon.”
—JEREMY L. DYER
Artist and psychologist
“A story can be much more than fiction. It’s through stories that we teach our children how the world works and it’s through stories that we communicate our values—think of the Bible. Having written Everything, Briefly—a discourse on, well, everything—Thomas Scarborough has boiled his worldview down into story form. Reading it you get lulled into thinking about fundamental questions of existence before you even know you’re doing anything other than reading a story. This book is at once thoughtful and fun.”
—JILL HACKER
Author of Problems Solved
“How do we talk simply about the complex realities of life? Scarborough shows us how with a story of encounters and conversations in a remote town where townspeople and a visitor confront together the meaning of language, ethics, reality, and God. Written in conversational and narrative form and aimed at young adults, This Town: A Complete Metaphysics succeeds in guiding the reader through big thoughts using simple words and entertaining anecdotes. It illustrates how conversations about metaphysics can (and should!) take place across cultures and generations. Highly recommended.”
—RICK DUGAN
Director, World Partners
“With This Town, Scarborough neatly presents an accessible catalogue of the myriad facets of fundamental philosophy. Attractively dressed in an illustrated narrative form, This Town creates for the reader a mental terrain through which to transverse the classic avenues of philosophical thought. In a style akin to the tradition of classic thought experiments, the reader is positioned in the ambit of intelligent questions and thoughtful dialogue; making room for the development of a philosophical stance without agenda.
“In a considerate and restrained manner, the author delivers a discussion about everything without bias. The reader is thereby provisioned with tools of effective thought without manipulating the function of these tools beyond seeing to their best application: excellent abstract critical thinking.”
—NATHAN POZARYCKI
Philosophy graduate, Rhodes University
“This is a great book! The text, gentle humour and evocative illustrations took me on a journey through both familiar and new territory. I was surprised to find my way past an ancient stumbling block, meaning, the simple truth as clear as day. There are indeed seeds of magic within!”
—MURIEL SHERWOOD
Instrumentalist, Surface of the Sun
“I found This Town to be a fascinating read. Very imaginative. Very profound. In fact, it is sheer magic as it unravels the deep recesses of your own consciousness and lets you see things from a whole new perspective. You will not just learn what 'whole' is but start feeling 'whole'. It is all about experiencing the oneness of all there is!”
—PARAMJIT S. WASU
Author of The Fine Print of Life
Author of The Fine Print of Life