Michael T. Starks

Tag: Heroes

  • William Shakespeare

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    Is William Shakespeare the most extraordinary playwright the world has ever known? I’m tempted to say “yes”. And he has been one of my heroes for a long time. Unfortunately, I’m not able to recount the exact details of my relationship with Shakespeare. What follows is my best guess. In grade school, my class went…

  • Victor Hugo

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    My all-time favorite fiction author is Victor Hugo. So, of course, he’s one of my heroes. While I can’t be certain, here’s how I think I found out about him. I didn’t learn about the musical version of Les Miserables until I was in college (probably in 1989). I initially listened to some of the…

  • Jack McDevitt

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    Let me begin by saying that Jack McDevitt is not my favorite author. He’s not even my favorite science fiction author. Still, he’s one of my heroes. Here’s why. He writes fascinating mystery stories that happen to take place in a well-realized future for humanity that I would like to see. Yes, I would like…

  • Robert McKee

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    I first became aware of Robert McKee when I read Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principals of Screenwriting. This book alone impressed me enough to consider him one of my heroes. Even as a kid, I wanted to understand stories. I wanted to be able to create stories at least somewhat similar to the…

  • Steven Pressfield

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    Here is a post about another one of my heroes. Steven Pressfield has the distinction of introducing us to the personification of RESISTANCE. Resistance is the part of us that resists forward motion. I think the first Steven Pressfield book I read was The War of Art. The struggle to do creative work is real.…

  • Morris Kline

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    One of my favorite non-fiction books is Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty, by Morris Kline, another one of my heroes. It starts with this amazing quote: “There are tragedies caused by war, famine, and pestilence. But there are also intellectual tragedies caused by limitations of the human mind. This book relates the calamities that have…

  • Julia Cameron

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    Julia Cameron is another one of my heroes. She is best known for her book, The Artist’s Way, which I read a long time ago. It inspires me to this day. I love that she shares tools to help unblock us when we feel stuck. I love her understanding of the creative process and her…

  • Dr. Ismail Zahed

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    I’ve been lucky enough to have many great teachers. I can never forget Mrs. Flannigan (3rd grade), Mr. Kerr (4th and 5th-grade science and sex education), Mr. Shea (English and my Newspaper elective), Mrs. Fithian (HS English), Mr. Danhouer (HS math and physics), Dr. Hammerly (College physics), Dr. Edgerton (Great Traditions of Asia and College…

  • Albert Einstein

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    There are several reasons why Einstein is celebrated as the most well-known physicist. He revolutionized physics with his work on the photoelectric effect, his special theory of relativity, and his general theory of relativity. The impact of this work cannot be overstated. Of course, he made other contributions to physics, including work on Brownian motion,…

  • Dr. Samuel Aronson

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    I met my Advisor at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) at the beginning of a Science and Engineering Research Semester (SERS) in 1991. The first thing he did was to make sure that I had an office with a nice desk and a computer. He made me feel very much at home. Next, he started having…