I’ve had Matt Miller ask several questions about time, space, and reality in Book 4 of the Matt Miller in the Colonies series. Matt’s speculations on life, the Universe, and everything have occurred throughout the series, but more so in this latest book. Unfortunately, Matt wasn’t old enough in the first two books to consider some of my questions. A twenty-six-year-old man hardly has enough colors in his palette to ask intelligent questions, let alone answer them, which is often something I’ve told my twenty-something daughters about the young men they are dating. I suspect, though, that they’ll need to figure this out on their own. Women, it seems, are on a different path and timeline than men.

On the other hand, a man in his late thirties, with experience under his belt and a whole bunch of life left to live, is a different story. It’s even better if that man has had to work for everything and finally sees some fruit from his labor. He has the luxury of looking back on what worked and what didn’t, and these lessons are still current enough to apply to his future. Some universal truths work across the millennia and keep you fed, but humanity is so dynamic that the lessons of one decade barely remain helpful for the next. Imagine Mark Zuckerberg’s chance of success even fifty years ago.