Dear Friends,
You all know that my dream is to build a center for science, art, assistive technology, education, and entertainment for special needs children and their families to help them live fulfilling, productive lives in spite of their physical limitations. With your help, I founded the Special Need Children Center Foundation (www.snccf.org), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, in 2006. Through this foundation, we already have helped many children and improved the quality of their lives. Now we are renewing our efforts to raise the funds necessary to build our center.
We just finished the publication on Amazon.com of my 5th book, What If?, and the second, much-enhanced edition of my 3rd book Love, the Foundation of Life. Two years ago, we published my 4th book, Inquisitive Thoughts. We hope these books will stimulate thinking about what we all can do to improve the human condition and a more fulfilling life for humanity and ourselves. We encourage you to consider purchasing these books, not only to enjoy and appreciate them but also to support SNCCF. The foundation receives all book sale proceeds to help continue its charitable works. The book descriptions, written by Gert van Ommering, and purchase links are below.
Zia
All proceeds from book sales go to the Special Need Children Center Foundation (SNCCF), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in 2006 to provide services to special needs children and families.
Hint: The eBook version provides the best royalty level to the SNCCF and is a print near-replica that will work well on all tablet devices.
Inquisitive Thoughts
Zia Oboodiyat and I published the poetry book Inquisitive Thoughts back in 2021. It is available in paperback and eBook versions on Amazon.
Inquisitive Thoughts is the fourth in a series of explorations by Zia into human nature and aspirations, the state of the human condition (often at odds with these aspirations), and the attitudes and behaviors that can overcome this dichotomy. It is aimed at achieving a more harmonious and fulfilling life for humanity at the individual, community, and worldwide levels.
Zia created 100 poems presenting meaningful inquisitive thoughts and I illustrated those using my photos and graphics, plus a few stock images, all related to the content or message of each poem. I also handled book design, editing, and publication logistics and learned much about self-publishing. It was a nice creative and productive project collaboration during the Covid shutdown.
Available in paperback and eBook versions on Amazon. Beautiful hardcover versions are available for a $30 donation – just email to request one.
Gert van Ommering
What If?
Zia Oboodiyat and I published the poetry book “What If?” in April 2023. It is available in hardcover, paperback and eBook versions on Amazon.
“What If?” is the fifth in a series of poetry explorations by Zia Oboodiyat into human nature and aspirations, and generally on the state of the world and what we might do as individuals to push things into a positive direction for humanity. What if we all pushed back on bad leaders and bad behaviors and promoted loving, benevolent actions and governance, starting with ourselves? What If?
Zia created 98 poems and observations presenting “What If” issues and solutions. I handled the design, layout, editing and publication, and provided the illustrations in the form of photographs and graphics, including some that I licensed from others. By the way, the cover and two more images use deliberate double exposures that Zia created way back in the 1970s and that I enjoyed restoring.
All proceeds go to the charitable work of the SNCCF. Hardcover, paperback and eBook versions are available. The eBook version is a print near-replica that should work well on all tablet devices.
Gert van Ommering
Love, the Foundation of Life
The first edition of this book was published in 2018 but had design and availability issues. The second, visually much-enhanced edition was published in May 2023 and is available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, and eBook versions.
Love, the Foundation of Life is the third in a series of explorations by Zia into human nature and aspirations, the state of the human condition, and strategies for humanity to work toward unity and improved quality of life. In this book, Zia shares his love for humanity and promotes the idea that upon cleansing of self of the pollutions introduced in our heart, mind, and soul, and learning how to love self, human beings then will realize the significance of love and loving one another, and build a world where a unified effort toward improvement of the quality of life is shared by all human beings.
The book contains 100 poems and observations by Zia presented over subtle background illustrations curated by me. I also handled the redesign and publication.
Gert van Ommering
Coming Soon on Amazon
Zia’s first two books will soon be available on Amazon. At that point, we will add the links for purchase.
Treasures Within
Zia Oboodiyat’s first book, Treasures Within, makes an attempt to identify human attributes (e.g. love, courage, patience, stamina, etc.) as a toolbox available to humans for living a loving life or overcoming any obstacle in life.
This lovely book of poetry seeks to place the reader in a serene state of mind, then prompt reflection on the enormous capabilities we have as human beings. Author Zia Oboodiyat refers to these capabilities as the “Treasures Within”. Each poem presents one of these treasures and is accompanied by complementary art created by graphic designer James Lemon. The combination of poetry and art stimulates the reader to explore his or her own interpretation of the feelings induced by each “treasure”.
Is Life a Dream
In his second book, Is Life a Dream?, Zia introduces the idea that human beings have the ability to imagine, dream, and creatively think. Thus, if they aim a dream and use their ability to creatively think to plot a path to achieve their dream and utilize their treasures within to overcome any obstacle, he concludes that life is not a dream but that they can live the life they dream.