The Great Ship of Knowledge, Vol. 1: Learning Earth's Deathly History

by William Bailey

This first-edition was a paperback released in 2009. It is out of print.

What is reality? What if virtual-world technology has evolved beyond our wildest dreams and we're actually living virtual-lives right now? We're here learning a mandatory history lesson that everyone must learn in the future before ever being truly conscious. It's a time during the early twenty-first century when the world is divided by ideological hatred. This ravenous hatred will soon climax when the Dooms-Team strikes America with a sinister act of terror that will snowball overnight into nuclear Armageddon. Right now humanity has reached a fork in the road, one road leads to life and the other to death. In this book, the first of a trilogy, you'll learn what's on the road to death and a little of what's possible on the road of life. Only by showing the world the cataclysmic cost of a world divided can they appreciate the wonders of life and the endless possibilities of a world united.

update from author 11/24/2019

This first-edition was my first stab at writing. And I wish I wouldn't have rushed the book to market. I regret it because I always knew the story could be told much better.
But I did learn from publishing the first-edition. I learned what had to be fixed. Readers were "rightfully" put off by the poor editing.
With that said, I've spent several years now working on a second-edition.

Part-On: The Journey Ends (ebook) is now available on Kindle.

Part-Two: Learning Earth's Deathly History is also done and will be released
in December 2019.

Part-Three The Awakenings Begin will also be release on Kindle spring of 2020

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

536 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2009

About the author

I find it strange to write about myself, but here it is.

I come from working class America. I was born near the end of the baby boomers’ generation in Holland, Michigan, on December 29th, 1961. My parents had four children with me being the youngest. My father was employed by the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad. Due to his job constantly being relocated, my family moved a few times to other hamlets in Michigan. My mother worked at several chrome plating factories for supplying the automotive industry. (That’s when American automobiles were still flashy, and had chrome bumpers and other brilliant trim unlike the boring cars of today). My parents were both hard working people. They were good souls; may they rest in peace.

Moving on, I met my wife in 1980 during our senior year in high school. We graduated together and married in 1985. (If you want a laugh, check out our graduation picture in my profile pics. Ah, to be young again.)

Over the years, I lived through good and bad economies during times of peace and war. I’ve experienced all the emotions anyone else has over the trials of life with love being the greatest and betrayal being the worst. I’ve had enemies become friends, and friends become enemies. However, I’ve yet to meet anyone as loyal and loving as my dogs. If only humanity would behave like our dogs. Isn’t it curious that human beings are the animals?

I find life is like a ship at sea sailing through calm waters one day only to be tossed about in a horrific storm the next. I’ve been around for a while so my ship is old and beat up. It has sailed through its share of storms. But I’ve survived them all. It’s these good and bad life experiences that shape the people in my books. They are believable characters that we can all relate to.

You should know I never planned on being a writer. It’s the last thing I ever thought I would do. So why did I suddenly spend years on end writing The Great Ship of Knowledge: Learning Earth’s Deathly History? It was a prophetic dream that gave birth to the story. I’m serious. I write about the entire experience in the front matter of The Journey Ends. It’s the chapter titled The Epiphany.

I’ve always been a dreamer with a vivid imagination. I’m constantly daydreaming about anything and everything. I love science fiction especially the classics such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. I grew up watching Star Trek, and I’ll never forget sitting in a moving theater in 1977 when I witnessed the Millennium Falcon make the jump to lightspeed. It was epic! The special effects in Star Wars were incredible at the time.

As for hobbies, I love camping and being outdoors. My wife and I like to canoe and hike. Northern Michigan is beautiful country, and the Great Lakes State has miles of public trails and dozens of fabulous State Parks to explore not to mention endless sugar-sand beaches to walk.

I also have a passion for classic American cars. I’ve had many of them over the years. The 1929 Plymouth pictured in my profile pics was my car during high school. During the summer months you might find me strolling through one of the many classic car shows held annually in northern Michigan.

To finish, I love animals especially our German shorthaired pointer, Mocha, and our Flemish giant house rabbit, Honey Bunny. My wife and I have been married now for thirty-eight years, and we live on our farm in Antrim County.

Reviews

[William Bailey]

Hi, All.

Just so there is no confusion, Goodreads has mixed the reviews for The Journey Ends with the first-edition to Learning Earth's Deathly History that I wrote over a decade ago. So please look at the dates when reading the reviews. If they were posted ten-years ago, the reviewers were reviewing the first-edition.

I was new to writing when I originally wrote The Great Ship of Knowledge, volume-one, Learning Earth's Deathly History, back in 2008-09. It was then that I invisioned this incredible science fiction story. Back then, I did my best putting my dream to paper. It was a brutal task at the time. Yet I toiled away day after day for months on end writing my novel.

If I could go back to 2009, I would have waited to publish the book. It just wasn't ready to be read, and I needed more time to hone my writing skills. But I needed to start somewhere, and the first-edition was my start at the craft.

I was never happy with my first work. I knew I would need to rewrite Learning Earth's Deathly History before writing the next volume to The Great Ship of Knowledge. So over the last ten-years I have worked on the second-edition. I just finished Part-Three: The Awakenings Begin, completing the story.
This is the book I wish I had released in 2009. Not only has my writing vastly improved (I'm still learning), but I tell the story so much better this time around. I'm happy with this book.

Because of the length of Learning Earth's Deathly History, I'm releasing it in three sections. I've already published Part-One: The Journey Ends, and Part-Two: Learning Earth's Deathly. I just sent Part-Three: The Awakenings Begin, to my editor for his final proofread. I will be releasing it in a few weeks. All are Kindle eBooks.

Now that I have finished Learning Earth's Deathly History, I can finish writing The Great Ship of Knowledge, volume-two, The New World.

I hope you enjoy the sci-fi adventure,

~William Bailey

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this book. The premise is great and could be a wonderful story. The execution and writing however failed. I got 60 pages into this book. In the time I was told at least 30 times something was futuristic, I had a detailed description of a do laying down on a bed. I have always come from the belief show me with your words, let your words help me envision what you are trying to say. Do not pummel me to death with the details of meaningless things. Don't describe in details a history of a character that is meaningless. By page 50 I wanted to take a red pen to the entire book and send it back to the author with notes, by page 60 I was ready to throw it away, and I did. I have never before thrown a book away even one I didn't enjoy, but that is where this book belongs, in the trash so the author can start over with and idea of something that could be really amazing.

[Shirley Kingery · Rating 3 out of 5]

509 pp.

This book is a gem of a science fiction story. That's not all it is. It's a cry for the people of the world to wake up before they destroy the planet they live on. And it's a very realistic depiction of the holocaust and destruction that will take place if we continue on the present path. In this regard, it is truly frightening in its vivid and seemingly very realistic portrayal of current events escalating into apocalyptic proportions with the final outcome being an all too possible, human-wrought, Armageddon. The people that we follow in the story are living out a dream sequence, even as their physical beings are being stored in limbo onboard very elaborate space craft bound for a new planet to inhabit. They have been enroute for a thousand years, and are now just arriving at their destination. These "dreamers" who are to populate the new world, must first virtually live out a life on the Earth of a thousand years ago and the nightmare of the Armageddon that occurred then. The powers that be felt in this way, they would learn to respect their new world and all mankind would live in peace after they had seen for themselves what the stupidity of religious and racial hatred did to the Earth. How these "dreamers" were saved from the destruction of Earth is only hinted at, and is to be explained in detail in later volume(s).

The depiction of the strife that led to the Earth's destruction; as well as the portrayal of the advanced space traveling crew, "dreamers", futuristic equipment and gadgets, space craft full of specimens from the old world that were salvaged and are being transported to the new planet, holographic workers of all kinds, complete with elaborate costumes; and especially vivid descriptions of various modes of futuristic transport is awe-inspiring. I have read alot of science fiction books, and never has one painted such a vivid picture in my mind; as if a movie were playing in the background. This story just begs to be made into a movie--3D please!!!!

The foreword describes the eerie birth of this story; that alone is truly frightening. In it, the author also explains that he is not a writer, and is rather poor in English subjects, including spelling and tense; as mentioned by an English teacher he had originally asked to look over the manuscript. I appreciate his honesty and I must say, he is absolutely right. As far as English is concerned, this book would appear to be a pretty rough draft greatly in need of massive proofreading, spelling corrections and heavy editing. The tense issue is a prevalent one. Sentence structure is very poor, with long, run-on sentences full of ambiguity. Ordinarily, the problems mentioned in this paragraph would have turned me off of a book I was reading. I used to think that was the main reason I read; to experience elegant usage of the English language, which is truly an art form of its own. I've changed my mind after reading this book. The story that is told here, is worth it!

Library Thing and the author of this book have afforded me the opportunity to experience a book that I would not ordinarily have come across; and I would like to extend my thanks to them for their consideration. This book has enriched my imagination and also filled me with a new level of dread for the current state of affairs of this world we live in. Reading this book has truly been a unique and rewarding experience.

RESPONSE FROM AUTHOR:

Dear Shirley,

I woke up early this morning and saw another reviewer (yours) had posted another review of The Great Ship of Knowledge, on Amazon.com. It’s always emotional for me when I read a review of my work, and yours made me tear up! Thank you! I still find it so hard to believe that I wrote a novel.

As you know after reading “The Epiphany,” this story is truly the result of lucid dream I suffered through just after midnight, on the morning of January 1st, 2008. A dream so vivid and powerful, that it inspired and forced this 47 year old, who had never written more than 5 pages of scribble in his life, to become immediately obsessed with writing about it.

Writing this first volume, with only a highschool English class for my educational background (English was my worst class in highschool) was no easy task for me, but I knew the story had to be told, and told by me. So I just started writing and rewriting it until I felt I had written my best draft, and then rewrote it a few more times, before I had burned out and just needed to let go of my manuscript, and have the first volume printed.

I know my writing still needs help, but I’m elated I was able to articulate the words well enough for the reader to see my vision as if they were there. I’m taking steps to improve my writing skills before I write the next volume of The Great Ship of Knowledge. Two days ago, I signed up for a English comp one class, at the local community college, and after I complete that course, I will be taking English comp two along with a creative writing class they offer. The story gets more involved and detailed in the next edition, so I want to take the necessary steps now to improve my writing skills, before I pick up the pen and once again disappear into a world of thought for months on end as a writing-recluse.

Thanks again! You made my day!
Sci-fi Dreams, William Bailey

[Lise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free, paperback copy of this book over 10 years ago as part of the Goodreads First Reads program. That review follows this one, with the understanding that "Part 1" covers just the introduction and first few chapters of the book.

It's a fun premise, sort of a spiritual take on a well meant Matrix as a way to develop children's minds. It's certainly got dystopian potential, but that doesn't seem to be the intent. Part one is pretty much all prologue, and it's got a highly visual feel, with richly described scenes that beg to be animated.

This is also, very clearly, a space opera. There are parts which are somewhat disturbing. There was an anime style scene objectifying young, naked, unconscious people. The whole premise - the goal is to transplant Earth's entire ecosystem to the only inhabitable planet in the universe and superimpose it on an existing ecosystem, leaves me with some moral and ethical qualms. Again, it's a space opera, replete with manifest destiny.

So maybe don't think about it so closely? But, again, reading the prologue, the author clearly meant this book to resonate spiritually, at least as regards the destruction of this planet. So maybe it's not meant as a glorification of humans as a species imposing our will on the next world in the same way we have this one?

I've enjoyed it, and it's definitely making me think. Enough so that I've purchased and downloaded part 2.
---
I'm going to break my own rule and start a review before I finish the book, because I'm not sure if I will finish it.

Like other reviewers, I WANT to like this book. I really like the author's forward and autobiographical comments. There are snippets of very good writing, and the ideas and story are good (so far).

The issues I have with the book are twofold. The writing isn't polished, and (as the author aludes to in the introduction) the changes from present to past tense are distracting. I *wish* he'd had an editor suggest that, if he wanted to keep them in, he tie them in with the VR theme (one 'reality' in present tense, one in past), but the changes are random and don't seem to signify anything about the story. Not an insurmountable obstacle, but it does make reading the story more of an effort than it has to be.

The other criticism is probably unfair to voice of a first time author, but I mean it constructively. The premise of the book is that humankind destroys the earth because we can't manage to get along together, and our descendants are given a crash course in what went wrong through VR teaching before trying to get it right on another planet. VERY strong idea, but the VR 'scenario' is shown as an action sequence with a very clear slant towards and against certain factions. It's all about 'the boys' waging warfare against the 'bad guys'. I find the cognitive dissonance distracting, but I might push through with the hope that it is resolved later in the story.

I am VERY interested in following Mr. Baily's writings, even if I decide I'm unable to finish this book. He's a writer with a lot of potential. I'm feel lucky to have gotten a free copy through Goodreads First Read program.

[Karen · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a good thing that I didn't purchase this book as I would have been greatly disappointed.

If Mr. Bailey has a gift for description, but lacks in conversation. His descriptions of the ships are great but way to long. Get on with the story all ready. If they make this book into a movie, they will not have to wonder what Mr. Bailey was seeing. However it would have to be rated "R" with all the terrible language. I realize it is dealing with Navy Seals but I have to say that NOT all people in the military are such gutter mouths. It really gives them a bad rap when books and movies portray them in such a manner.

Maybe the book gets better as it goes on, but the nice thing about having so many good books and writers is that I don't have to continue to read something that I find offensive.

I have this book and will gladly give it away, but I can't recommend it. If I had the address from the person that I received it from I would send it back. I will no better next time I win a book to keep the address it cam from.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, for me, was difficult to get through. The story and ideas the author was trying to relay were great. But, I had a problem with all the pointless rather extensive descriptions of everything. It seemed like such extensive descriptions - instead of helping the reader get a clear visual idea of what the environment was like, it actually was too much information and thus the actual visuals are lost to the reader. It also took awhile for any true action to start....I would have prefered more action at the beginning with less description.

The author openly admits that he's never tried writing before and I appreciate the honesty. I think the story is well worth telling, but, it would do well to have quite a bit trimmed out of it.

[Kelli · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I was unable to finish this book. It just couldn't keep my attention. The writing was sub-par and there were too many discrepancies with the real world to allow me to suspend belief for the science fiction sections. I think this book needs to be rewritten a few more times before it winds up on the shelves. The major tenet this author needs to follow is REWRITE! The story might go somewhere if the author spends more time on it. I really wanted to finish this book, and more than that, I really wanted to enjoy it. But its going to take a lot of work before it should grace bookshelves.

[Susanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hated the first 200 pages of the book. It was boring for the first hundred, then exciting, then boring again until the second part. I thought that the author's style of writing needed much improvement. He was very descriptive...way too descriptive, and his grammar, sentence structure, and, at times, repetitive vocabulary made the first part of the book a drag to read. After that, however, the book got far more interesting and I very much enjoyed it. I can't wait to read the next books in the trilogy as they are published!

[Joyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the print in this book as is a larger one.

I am afraid I did not care for this one.It is The first part with the space ships was very hard to get into.The best part of the book is part three The Awakenings Begin.I really tried 2 or 3 times to start over and read it again so I could understand the beginning.But afraid I gave up.

If this is a dream I hope I never wake up I won this book on Goodreads

Sorry Mr.Bailey

Joyce Beardslee

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a free book from the author on Librarything.
After reading this book, I found myself wanting more. There is a sequel, and a part three according to the author, and I can't wait to read the next installment.
Anyone interested in virtual reality and a plausable senario to Earth's "coming" demise, should add this to the top of your to-read list; it is one phenomenal book.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best science fiction books I have read. Although the author’s writing is a little too descriptive in the first few chapters, he did manage to rein it in by mid-book. I won’t be a spoiler other than to say the last few chapters, or the third part of this story, had me truly electrified. I can’t wait for the next installment to come out.

[Kevin Sells · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting premise. Killer introduction.

The intro is rather long, but worth every second spent reading it. Buy this book if only to read that part.
The beginning is rather dry , but builds up quite nicely before ending quite abruptly. It bodes well for book two and I'll be going into it right after I finish this review.
All in all... a promising series.

[Rob]

I really wanted to like this book. The beginning was hard to get through--a lot of description of ships and such. Then I got to page 49-ish, when it was really starting to get interesting and the F-bombs started flying. I couldn't finish it--too offensive because of the language. Sorry.

[John Pehrson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the confluence of a creative imagination with extensive real-world research, resulting in an entertaining, yet believable, story - a thought provoking story about ethical dilemmas facing modern humans.

[Kelly Knapp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intense

This is not a quick read as the author has intricately described everything, which sometimes drags on the pace of the story. The premise is awesome but doesn't quite hit its mark because of the pace. Still it is a great warning about our rush to kill our planet.

[Shawna · Rating 2 out of 5]

To much discription in the beginning of the book. I understand it is the writers first book. I had a hard time getting through it.

[B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely amazing book. I could read it over and over again.

[Cheyanne Rash]

I won this book from a Goodreads Giveaway. Thank you to the author, publisher, and Goodreads!

[Read Ng · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a GoodReads giveaway of a Kindle ebook.

I am a bit confused by this very short story. The first HALF is essentially an introduction of what inspired the story. The last half is his story. It comes across as a bit of a rambling narrative. The worse part (using a phrase from the story) it is "soul less". There is no plot. No conflict resolution. No character development. There is a vivid narrative regarding the setting and one does get a sense of how dreamlike the story develops. But it really is only the introduction into a bigger story. Once the author gets his good/bad setup, it could become a decent tale. What I have read so far is very incomplete.

Have a GoodReads.

[Julie Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intresting

This book starts by going over a brief history of technology on our word. With the goodness of it to the dangers of it.
Then it goes into a story of vast ships re arriving back from the milky way to earth. It briefly goes over the crew and their responsibility of the thousands of sleepers aboard plus their stores.
This book ends abruptly just after the sleepers are interrupted from the computer reality. I can only assume I received a half book from good reads because I did get it free from good them. I may seek the other book out.

[L A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great descriptions; 5 stars. Plot and characterization lacking; 1 star. Ok as a manifesto but not as a story or warning.

[Elise · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book through Goodreads First Reads
I could only manage to read up to the tenth page, and nothing was happening. A character was narrating a single scene, and was still describing the scene on the tenth page. The way this book is written almost gives me a headache. When the character starting talking, I had to read it over again after a few sentences to be sure that it wasn't still the narrator. And when the character isn't speaking, the point of view seems to change. It goes from phrases like "He pets a small dog lying on his lap" to five pages later, "said the bearded man as he appeared to become extremely emotional" It switches from past to present tense. After glancing at a few more pages, this isn't the only time that this happens. From what I've read so far, the character recording what's happening in the scene doesn't seem like an actual character in the way that he describes the scene.
I don't have the patience to read this book and make sense of the odd writing. Kudos to those who can, though.

[Vicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book.

The human passengers aboard an Earth colony ship have been sleeping in a virtual world "Learning Earth's Deathly History." The dream recounts the nuclear war that destroys Earth hoping the dreamers would awake without the ethinic, religious and political tensions of their ancestors.

The story itself was intriguing; a true call for the people of Earth to step back and think about the consequences of their actions before they act.

However, as the author admits, he is not a writer and this was his first attempt at writing. There was a lot of unecessary detail, some characters lacked believability, and I felt as though the sections of the story could have been better organized. It was obvious that the author is an amatuer writer. I have, however, read that he is working on improving his writing before releasing the remaining volumes of this series. I am curious to see where the story goes next, and how he develops as a writer.

[Michele · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to be upfront that I received this book free from the author from a giveaway on this website. I enjoyed the overall premise of the book and found it to be very creative and interesting. My husband even picked up this book and started to read it. Originally I thought the book would only appeal to male readers. There is a lot of technical information on mechanics and graphic descriptions of battles between the good/evil characters. However, I think because William Bailey develops such full-bodied characters and relationships that women will be drawn into the story as well. My only critique of this book is that I thought it could be edited down to around four hundred pages. There was a lot of redundant information as well as take-home messages that were a tad too preachy for my taste. Otherwise an interesting read.

[Justin Hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like others I was disappointed with the execution of this book. I love the idea behind it and think the theme of getting past our differences for the good of the planet is a noble one, but the writing itself is a little hard to digest. Some of the descriptions are unnecessarily long and seem to ramble on for pages when just a paragraph or two would do. Also, at times it seemed like I was beaten over the head with the same detail over and over. I don't know how many times various aspects of the technology were described as "futuristic" or the ships were described as some type of shark or whale shaped. It was hard for me to lose myself in the book because of this redundancy and definitely took away from what flow this book possessed. I forced myself to finish this book and it did get better once I got into it a little, but overall it wasn't one of my most enjoyable reads.

[Tiffany · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good Reads/First Reads Book. I feel bad giving this book one star, but I just could not finish it. I was only able to read 50 pages before I finally had to put it down, acknowledging that the only reason I was continuing to try and read was because I had won a copy and wanted to like it. I just found that there were too many pages of descriptions about the things I didn't care about and didn't believe needed explaining while descriptions about things I didn't understand were greatly lacking.

[Marilynmessinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning seemed to be similar to other things that I have read in the science fiction genre. The second section, while well written with a new point of view, was a downer. I would be interested in seeing if further books on the new planet veer towards the "man ruins everything he touches" point of view or shows a different thought.

[T. Justin White · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the first few pages, he describes no less than three things as "futuristic". A bad start and it didn't get much better.

[Heidi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Badly in need of an editor. I don't think I got through the first chapter.

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not the type of book I would ordinarily read. I thought by the title that it was going to be something else. My error.