Many moments during one’s life are consumed by trying to answer the simple question: what is the meaning of living?
Using his analytical mind and trust of his heart, Dr. Edward Bednarz III, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, tackled that question in a fiction book he wrote, “The Journey to Discover the Meanin
g of Life”.
He is the first to tell you that he is not a philosopher, but this book is his personal view of the world.
“There are many answers to that question and everyone has a different one,” Bednarz said. “I hope that after people read the book they can reflection on it and maybe relate to some of the characters.”
A mechanical engineer writing a fiction book is not the most common thing one hears everyday.
Bednarz said “I wrote part of the book 14 years ago; I was a student here at Wilkes. I would write short stories just for fun.”
Bednarz graduated from Wilkes in 2001. He worked as a Senior Mechanical Engineer for the United States Army. In 2013, Bednarz was hired at Wilkes to teach full-time.
Having about 14 years between written the first part of his book and the last, Bednarz saw changes in his writing.
“It (merging the two parts) was interesting, my writing style improved since I was 20 when I wrote the first couple of chapters,” Bednarz said.
Bednarz laughed while saying “I drove my editors nuts a little because I wanted about 150 revisions.”
He accredit his improved writing style to his education. He related the technical writing he had to do in his life to writing this book.
“I think that my technical writing has helped me to write a fiction book because in technical writing every word means something and every variable means something, and I used that same level of scrutiny when writing this book,” Bednarz said.
Another factor that Bednarz had to take into consideration is his changed inspiration to write.
“There are different things in my life now. I have a son and I’m teaching now,” Bednarz said.
Bednarz went from sitting in class writing for fun to teaching the class writing from the lessons he learned.
Bednarz goes on to say, “I think that there are a lot of positive messages in the book. Life is a journey not a destination. If you are waiting for a destination you’re going to miss life so you have to enjoy it as you go.”
Bednarz was involved with the book from start to finish. He wrote, help edit and even took the photo for the cover, which is his son and a family friend’s daughter.
“I am very proud of it, it is definitely what I’ve created.”
If interested in reading Bednarz’s book “The Journey to Discover the Meaning of Life”, it is for sale at his office, Stark Learning Center 145, for $12. He will even personalize the copy.
The book is also available on Amazon for pre-order; the release date for Amazon and Barnes and Noble is Dec. 23.
See http://thejourney.tateauthor.com/ for more information.
