I love to explore things. Ever since I was a little boy, I would poke my nose into every corner where it "didn't belong" just to see what I could find. This attitude served me well in later life as I began to explore the limits of the developing field of computer technology during the early days of hypertext that would later be called the Internet.When I had mastered that and written several books about it, I began to look beyond into other areas that, in my opinion, needed further investigation. This led me to my current explorations of art and of ancient American history.When writing my books, I have always striven to create "the book I would want to have on my desk" when I was doing whatever the topic was about. And, in fact, I DO actually use my own books as my favorite references; after all, they're the best ones I know of on the topics in question. I would never have signed my name to them otherwise.If someone else has already done a good job on the topic, I walk away from it; I never have and never will write a book that just recaps what someone else has already done. As when I was a boy, I surrender to my need to explore, and if there is nothing new to explore, I'm just plain not interested.If there's an unwalked path, however, you can be sure that I will soon set foot upon it and lead you to places you'd never find with any other author.