★★★★½ "THE WORLD WE LEFT BEHIND is part gripping travel diary and part emotional exploration, a young man finding himself amidst the natural beauties and dangers of the wilderness" "The emotional force of the story is amplified by Morris's starkly honest and compellingly vivid writing style." "Morris has a wry, humorous, engaging tone and an innate descriptive ability that makes his journey come to life"                                - IndieReader  _____________________"Such a good read! Insightful, funny, exciting and revealing."                                                      - AT Library______________________  ★★★★½"The World We Left Behind is instantly engaging. Morris displays a keen eye for detail in every descriptive passage and brings raw nature to life. Dialogue is sharp and involving, and the characters he meets leap off the page. The reader will feel drawn in to the whole experience due to the atmospheric and colorful picture Morris paints. It is a page-turner to the end of the volume." 4½ Stars                                                     - Self Publishing Review______________________"The message in The World We Left Behind is one that seems to resonate with a huge portion of the population, no matter their gender, their job, their financial position, and Morris' struggle to achieve enlightenment while being challenged continually by forces over which he has no control, is a situation that speaks to the internal battle that rages in all of us."                                                                                                        - San Francisco Book Review John R. Morris, aka "Morris the Cat" was at a crossroads in his life. Like most people, he had an average paying job, a loving family, a beautiful new relationship blooming and a comfortably predictable future splayed out before him. By all rights, and by societies standards he should have been happy. Yet disillusioned by chronic depression, John turned to alcohol and isolation to make the stirrings of dissatisfaction go away."We're here and then we're gone. What did we do with the time afforded to us?" It was forever a question that haunted him daily. Feeling suffocated, he knew of only one way to combat this mental illness. He had to run away from everything. So he deconstructed. Quitting his job, selling all of his possessions, leaving his apartment vacant and bidding adieu to his friends and family; John set out on the most famous hiking trail in the country--the Appalachian Trail. He was on a mission to bring pride to a father back at home he no longer felt connected to, and to regain a sense of self-worth and confidence long since gone. John had decided to reset his life, and find beauty in the nature of "wandering" and purposefully seeking a homeless lifestyle for eight and a half months with which to do it. From Georgia to Maine, the Appalachian Trail featured some of the toughest and ever-changing terrain, but John's new found determination and the companionship of a friend that wanted to share in his adventure gave him the courage to go.The desire to try.Though the path would challenge him in every way, Morris the Cat persisted day in and day out. And with each challenge came change. With near death experiences, came strength. John's encounters with life existing as a drifter detail not only the humor behind his initial blind naïveté in stumbling out into the wild, but his unyielding determination to give meaning and understanding to a world he no longer felt a part of. The World We Left Behind: Book One -- Now Available*The World We Left Behind: Book Two -- Mid-2016*The World We Came To Find -- TBA