Official Review
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1. Tell us about your life outside of writing.
My day job is as a Certified Public Accountant, which is not the most exciting job in the world but I certainly enjoy it. I am the father of three young children who dominate my daily life. I enjoy working out, listening to music and going to concerts, fantasy football and trying (and failing) to understand social media.
This was the first thing I have ever written in my life outside of accounting memos and it was a very interesting experience for me and my wife to go through.
I am using a pen name for now due to the fact that I do have a full-time career and I am not sure how others would react to the subject of the book. So for now, we are Mr. and Mrs. Right!
2. Who or what has most inspired you in life?
Certain comedians like Bill Hicks, Jim Norton and others have helped me realize that life is too short to not laugh. Music is a big part of my life so certain musicians like Maynard James Keenan, Thom Yorke and others have also been a big part of my life in terms of appreciating creativity.
Michael Pollan is an author whose books I have enjoyed reading over the past few years and whose topics are fairly consistent with the topic in my book.
3. Let's discuss your book Higher Connections. Can you give us a brief synopsis?
You ever have a long-ass day and just want to relax and unwind? Most people turn to alcohol or a massage to unwind. This book summarizes how I turned to cannabis to unwind over the past few years. Initially, I started doing cannabis just to relax after a long week. Pretty soon, I realized I was starting to have interesting experiences while I was high that I eventually spoke to my wife about and she suggested I start writing them down. The experiences were that I seemingly could sense and feel how others around me were feeling in real-time, similar to an empath or clairvoyant. Eventually, I began reacting similarly to how my wife was reacting in a real-time way when I was high.
In the book, I summarize some of the more interesting experiences and connections that I seem to have and what might be causing these to occur. I also get into some fairly deep concepts like third-eyes, souls and simulation theory in the book and how it correlates to the experiences I am having.
I also get into some random and (hopefully) funny observations I have had while high, although I am sure some people may disagree with how funny they really are!!
4. Why did you decide to write a book about cannabis?
I really want people to understand that people that use marijuana are not just college kids or people with little to worry about in their lives. I am a successful professional with responsibilities at work and at home. I use cannabis to relax and de-stress after a long day or week at work.
I also think there is a negative stigma attached to marijuana that it is unhealthy, addictive or a gateway drug to other drugs, which is not really based in reality.
There are no significant studies that prove marijuana is any worse for your health than legal substances like alcohol or cigarettes. I have a chapter in my book that talks about other things we put into our bodies like red meat, sugar, caffeine and fried foods that are likely worse for you than marijuana is. There are also several proven benefits to consuming marijuana from pain reduction to helping patients with multiple sclerosis.
I am hoping that by showing marijuana was a positive influence on my life, others will be more open to putting the bottle or glass down and trying something new.
5. Cannabis doesn't have the best reputation and is still illegal in many places. What do you want people to know about it?
If you look at the history of marijuana and why it was made illegal in the first place, there really was never any medical or rational basis to make it federally illegal. It was based on prejudice and misconceptions about the drug that existed because of a lack of education about the plant by people in the 1920s and 1930s.
Those misconceptions were passed down from generation to generation and here we sit in the 21st century with lots of people thinking it is just some evil drug that only people with no responsibilities can enjoy. That is very far from the truth and I hope the summary of my experiences helps people overcome that fear.
As more and more states legalize it for both medicinal and recreational use, I am hoping that eventually, it will become legal federally, which is far overdue. At that point, more research can be done into the impact of the plant on human bodies and people can make better decisions on whether they are comfortable consuming marijuana or not.
One thing I want to make clear is that I am not suggesting that marijuana is a cure-all for everyone’s problems in life or their relationships. It is not; however, it certainly helped me and it may be able to help others that may want something different to decompress on a daily or weekly basis.
I understand my wife much better now that I can essentially "get into her head" when I am high. It is a scary and interesting place, but I do understand how AND why she thinks the way she thinks much better than I did before I started my marijuana journey.
6. Is the book more a story of your life or a commentary on marijuana or both? How so?
As I mentioned earlier, a good portion of the book talks about the experiences and connections with my family that I tried to summarize as best as possible, along with responses from my wife, Alexandra, to those experiences from her point of view. I also comment on a variety of deeper topics like the concept of a third-eye, where souls may come from, and simulation theory.
The vast majority of the concepts in the book were thought of while I was high, but most of the writing was done while sober because it is generally impossible to do any research while high.
I do get into some discussion about marijuana itself, such as research on what happens to your brain when you are high and how marijuana impacts the brain, but most of what I reference in regard to marijuana is how it impacts me when I take it and the benefits to me when I consume the plant.
I would say it is a partial autobiography and partial self-help for those that have never tried marijuana before.
7. What did you learn while writing this book? What surprised you most?
Writing a book is NOT easy. It was very hard to summarize what I was experiencing in a succinct way. I knew people would just say my experiences with my wife and others were just a coincidence so I tried to make it clear why I did not think these connections I was having were NOT coincidences and was being driven by something else that I try to explain in the book.
I tried my best to interject some humor and write it in a way that made it clear to the reader what I was trying to say but it is not easy.
There were several times I read something and I knew it would not be clear for the reader, so I had to scrap it and go back and rewrite again.
I appreciate all the help I received from the editors and proofreaders to make this accountant's jibberish make some sort of sense.
I was honestly surprised by how open I was willing to be with my experiences and the personal nature of some of my stories. Maybe utilizing a pen name allowed me to be more open than I otherwise would have been.
8. What's on tap for you now?
I am busy promoting the book as best I can. Due to the topic of cannabis, it is hard to market the book on Amazon and other sites, even though the topic of the book is innocuous.
My wife and I are continuing to discuss our experiences on our podcast, Higher Connections, where we summarize some of the experiences I have had while discussing other topics from the book and new experiences we have had together.
Even though 4 people are probably listening, we are enjoying it.
We also have our full-time careers and the 10,662 things to do for the kids on a daily basis.
I like to end with fun questions.
9. Ideally, how would you spend your birthday?
Is my wife going to read this? If so, then with my wife on the beach somewhere with no kids in sight. If not, then with Alexandra Daddario on a beach somewhere, also with no kids in sight.
10. What's your favorite book to read?
I enjoyed Michael Pollan’s How to Change Your Mind.
11. What's your favorite time of year?
Fall – football, leaves changing color and no fruit flies in our house.
12. Tell us a joke.
What do accountants suffer from that ordinary people don’t? Depreciation.
