A Certain Expertise

Trade World Saga #3

by Ken Pence

This book looks at our young race suddenly moving into space. Empires had existed before us but we came from the fringe of the galaxy and older races were near the core. Some races progressed slowly even though they were much older due to their bureaucracy. Others appeared and disappeared in the blink of an eye. We were currently leaving a mark on our galactic arm. We had overcome some of the local competition and are probing deeper toward our galaxy Core. We are searching for the creators of the molecular circuitry that can improve electronics or form intelligent machines. We are also, struggling with our humanity and facing political jockeying at home due to radical changes in longevity, energy availability, and mobility. A society’s standard of living is based on the average energy available to individuals and ours has just increased by orders of magnitudes. The new power sources and alien influences may be a bit much for Earth -- should we even survive the tourists and traders. The more advanced species that are further inward on the spiral arm are another kettle of fish altogether.

235 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 27, 2012

About the author

Ken R Pence, Ph.D. is a professor of engineering at Vanderbilt University. He is a retired captain from the Metro Nashville Police Department where he served 31 years (16 on SWAT) and has taught police and military in the US and Europe (England, Germany, France, and Northern Ireland) in confrontation management skills. He has researched sniper shot location for DARPA, acoustic sensors to protect African elephant herds and inexpensive magnetic levitation. He lives in Nashville with his wife and his large - drooling - black lab (Drools Verne).

ken.pence@vanderbilt.edu

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

QUITE GOOD!

[kathy pittenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A certain expertise: trade world saga, book 3

This book was as much fun to read as it first two books. There always seems to be something else to be learned. It would be wonderful to have an extended lifespan with learning machines.