Book: Beyond Identity

Now at Amazon: Beyond Identity

Overdrive for libraries is available at Smashwords

“To feel deeply is to fall deeply, not to stumble back to sunlight’s superficiality, but to evolve in curious darkness, learning to shiver in the fullness of the moon.” -From Beyond Identity

By age 43, Peter Hunt had lived an adventurous life as a Naval Aviator, commercial pilot, and shipwreck diver, so when diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease he accepted the neurological disorder as simply a new challenge. There was a big difference; however, Hunt’s previous tests had been by choice. Parkinson’s was not. But what if Parkinson’s disease was welcomed into life as an opportunity to grow? What if it was treated as a choice, not as a victim’s label? The result—fifteen years since diagnosis, Peter Hunt flatly states that “Parkinson’s is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” And he means it.

Beyond Identity’s six-year collection of short stories, essays, and poems begins nine years after diagnosis, a time when Hunt’s Parkinson’s symptoms were at their worst. To examine his life at the most authentic level, Hunt scrapes away society’s definitions and assumptions so that he might explore the essence of his identity beyond the adversities of brain surgery, jarring physical changes, and depression. Humble and brutally candid, Beyond Identity’s 90 short works trace the outline of an inspired journey, edging ever forward with humanity’s most fundamental question – who am I?

Email: peter@peterhuntbooks.com Please contact Peter for address, phone number, or just to say hi.

Presentations

*Important update: due to the progression of Parkinson’s disease, all requested presentations will be reviewed for acceptance on a case by case basis. Thank you for your patience.

The Lost Intruder

On November 6, 1989, a Naval Air Station Whidbey Island A-6 Intruder attack jet suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure and was lost in Puget Sound. Despite a comprehensive Navy salvage effort to locate the A-6 and discover why it crashed, the lost Intruder lay undisturbed and unfound at the bottom of Rosario Strait for 26 years. Peter Hunt describes the amazing odyssey of finding the jet he had flown as a young Navy pilot 26 years earlier, an experience that helped him navigate some of Parkinson’s disease’s harshest symptoms. Please email Peter to schedule a presentation on The Lost Intruder or the Andrea Doria. Peter is also available to speak on other topics, such as learning to thrive while living with Parkinson’s disease.

Please email peter@peterhuntbooks.com if you would like to schedule a presentation or book signing.

Upcoming The Lost Intruder presentations:

Beneath the Sea Expo, Meadowlands, NJ. Sunday, March 29, 2020, 10:00 am

Foss Tugboat Museum, Tacoma, WS. Saturday, April 4, 2020, 1:00 pm

A-6 Intruder reunion, San Diego, CA. Saturday, May 2, 2020, 7:00 pm

Past The Lost Intruder presentations/book signings:

Wed., 10 Jan. 2018, 7:00 pm: Anacortes Public Library

Sat., 27 Jan. 2018, 10:00 am: The Lone Star Dive and Travel Expo, Dallas, Tx

Sat., 17 Jan. 2018, 10:00 am: Our World Underwater D & T Expo, Chicago, II.

Sat., 10 Mar. 2018, 1:00 pm: Boston Sea Rovers, Boston, MA

Sat. & Sun., 24-25 Mar., 2018: Beneath the Sea, The Meadowlands Expo Center, Meadowlands, NJ (book signings only)

Sat., 14 April, 2018, 1:00 pm: The BBQ Joint (book signing), Oak Harbor, WA

Sat. (3:00pm) & Sun. (10:00 am), 21-22 Apr., 2018: Scuba and H2O Adventures Expo, Tacoma, WA

Mon., 7 May, 2018: Navy Divers Association (NDA) Reunion (PRIVATE), Swinomish Casino, WA

Tues., 8 May, 2018: Association of Naval Aviation luncheon, Whidbey Island, WA

Sat., 30 Jun. 2018: Chehalis Veterans Museum, WA

Thurs. 20 Sep. 2018: Oak Harbor Public Library, WA

Sat., 9 Feb. 2019: Long Island Divers Association (LIDA) annual film festival, Hofstra University, NY

Tues., 12 Feb. 2019: New York City Sea Gypsies Dive Club, Midtown Manhattan, NYC

The Navy League monthly luncheon, Whidbey Island, WA

Past venues for Andrea Doria presentations and/or book signings:

“Our World Underwater” Chicago, IL, 2014

“Boston Sea Rovers” Boston, MA, 2013

“DEMA” Las Vegas NV, 2012

“Beneath the Sea” Meadowlands, NJ, 2012

“Northwest Dive Expo” Tacoma, WA, 2012

Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, OR, 2012
Portland, OR (dive clubs), 2012

Eugene, OR (dive clubs), 2012

Salem, OR (dive clubs), 2012

Seattle, WA (dive clubs), 2012

Yakima, WA (dive clubs), 2012

Anacortes Dive & Supply, Anacortes, WA, 2012

“Fidalgo Writer’s Guild,” Anacortes, WA, 2012

DUI Dry suits “DOG Days”, Mukilteo, WA 2012

Sno-Isle Library, Oak Harbor, WA, 2012

Wind and Tide Book Shop, Oak Harbor, WA 2012

Whidbey Island Dive Center, Oak Harbor, WA, 2012

Beyond Artifacts: The Andrea Doria before “Technical Diving”

Setting the Hook, A Diver’s Return to the Andrea Doria offers a personal perspective of a unique period in the amazing evolution of wreck diving.  Peter Gimbel’s 1981 commercially backed Andrea Doria expedition caught the attention of divers the world over.  Travel back to a tipping point in the popularization of deep diving as the Andrea Doria is explored in a time before sport use of mixed gas or formal technical training.

The Andrea Doria: Ship and Shipwreck

What was it like to explore the “Mount Everest of wreck diving” a decade before the term “technical diving” was coined?  The dramatic 1956 collision with the Stockholm and sinking of the Andrea Doria have long captured the imagination of maritime enthusiasts and divers alike.  Join the author of Setting the Hook: A Diver’s Return to the Andrea Doria on a thirty year journey through the famous liner’s history above and below the waterline.