MY BOOK – “Dancing With Clouds”

Book is $54.95 AUD + $17.00 Express Post, in Australia, includes small Australia Post box and Tracking

Express Post for four books is currently $29.95, in Australia for 3.91kg, as of 1 February 2024.

For typical overseas destinations:

Book is $54.95 AUD + $40.10 AUD for Standard Post with Tracking and $2.30 for small Australia Post box, to send to the US  ($62.35 USD total, as of 31 Oct 2022 Exchange Rate)

Book is $54.95 AUD + $43.50 AUD for Standard Post with Tracking and $2.30 for small Australia Post box, to send to the US (55.75 £ Pounds Sterling, as of 31 Oct 2022 Exchange Rate)

Accepting Orders:

 

 

It can be found at the National Library on Trove.

Dancing With Clouds : Never Take “No” For An Answer / Robert L. Cassidy

Libraries Australia ID: 71256238

ISBN: 9780648485575

Available from: NLApp100031 Australian  Cataloguing Cassidy, Robert L., 1954 to present.

CIP entry.

Tasmania State Library, refer to this weblink.

31 January 2024 Updates: PilotTrain is the first Pilot Shop to sell my book has made a second order. An autographed copy is still available directly from me, though.  And, a professional pilot in America seems to be a “happy customer”. Since first making contact, with me on 2 January 2022, he has earned FAA pilot certificates for single and multiengine airplanes and has become a helicopter pilot, as well. Recently, he wrote to tell me he had also earned a Type Rating in a Cessna Citation 500, as I had, though 42 years ago, on 31 December 1982. Perhaps I have served as some inspiration or as his mentor. I could only hope. He sent me his photo-

18 June 2023 Update: PilotTrain is the first Pilot Shop to sell my book.  An autographed copy is still available directly from me, though.

15 June 2023 Update: Thank you to the Editor, Steve Hitchen, ‘Australian Flying’ magazine, for the excellent review of my book, ‘Dancing With Clouds’.

09 February 2023 Update: My book is available at Petrarch’s Bookshop, located at: 89 Brisbane Street, Launceston, TAS  7250. Telephone: (03) 6331 8088. If you want an autographed copy, you may purchase directly from me.

08 December 2022 Update: Only three books remain, at Fullers Bookshop, located at: 131 Collins Street, Hobart, TAS 7000.  Telephone: (03) 6234 3800.  If you want an autographed copy, you may purchase directly from me.

31 October 2022 Update: I had a copy of my book sold the the State Library of New South Wales.

27 October 2022 Update: I had a copy of my book sold the the State Library of South Australia.

16 October 2022 Update: I had an ABC Radio 936 AM live interview, with Honor Marino, Program Producer and Joel Rheinberger, Presenter, about my book at 11:05.  It was my first radio interview, ever!

15 October 2022 Update: I have sold 2 autographed copies of my book, today. Get your copy soon, before they are sold out. Call me or send me an email.  CONTACT ME

13 October 2022 Update: I have sold 6 books today and one on the 24th of September.  Not many left. Be sure to order yours, today!

23 September 2022 Update: I have sold my first two books destined for overseas.

08 September 2022 Update: I consigned eight copies of my book to a bookshop.

31 August 2022 Update: I received the second shipment of my book and the boxes were shipped with a smaller quantity of books, with padding inside and the individual boxes cellophane wrapped. They arrived in perfect condition.  They are going fast.

23 August 2022 Update: I received advice that the replacement shipment of my damaged books, has been sent, today.  I wait with bated breath.

15 August 2022 Update: The shipment of my books was returned and received by the printing company, today.  They will be assessed for the cause of the damage and oil stains to the covers.

09 August 2022 Update: I must state that the books got damaged, during shipment and a majority of the covers were stained with oil.  Not sure how or when that happened, but I am not happy.  I am returning the entire shipment of books back to the printer, for reprinting.  I am guessing there will be a 3 weeks delay filling orders.  Just bad luck.

03 August 2022 Update: I picked up the first shipment of three boxes of my books, from TNT/FedEx, today.  They are available for purchase and I am now taking orders. Coincidentally, the first payment has been received for the first three books. I offered to autograph one copy gratis, for the client. I have three other firm orders, now.

25 July 2022 Update: I called Inhouse Publishing to learn my first shipment of books have been shipped.  I expect they are arriving via surface transport, due to size and weight..

11 July 2022 Update: Inhouse Publishing told me my book has been printed and is number four in queue to have book binding done.

24 June 2022 Update: The USB memory stick was delivered to Inhouse Publishing, today.

19 June 2022 Update: I have completed the review and polishing the gem that my autobiography has become. I will send the USB memory stick to Inhouse Publishing, tomorrow.

06 June 2022 Update: I received the “Proof Copy” in the mail, today. The pages are not glued onto the cover and are loose. And, the cover does not have the protective laminate. It is sent by the Printer for me to make any final corrections or adjustments to, before the print run.

***

The Evolution of Writing an Autobiography

I wrote this book about my early life leading up to and about my career spanning 36 years in Aviation. So many people I have met around the world suggested, “You should write a book”, when I told them about some experiences I had, during my career.

Part of what kept me safe throughout my aviation career, was reading other pilots’ stories, like Ernest K. Gann, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager, and so many others. There is always something I picked up from each of their stories.

I offer a lot of advice for pilots at all levels, whether Private Pilots flying Cessna airplanes or Airline Transport Pilots in Command of Boeing transport-category jets, as well as for helicopters pilots, as that is where I got my start.

This tome also provides a warts and all look at aviation.  It gives credit, where credit is due. It is not all glamor and white scarf flying, to be sure.

I had a landing gear malfunction, on approach, at night, in a snowstorm, to a mountain airport. Thanks to a story written by a Test Pilot at Muroc (Edwards AFB), that I read maybe a month before, I was able to get the Left Main Landing Gear to extend and lock, then made a safe landing. I provide information like that, in my book. Would knowing that give you confidence, as a passenger? I read another story, in the days flying boats were making transoceanic crossings and the technique the Captain used to avoid being struck by lightning . . . I employed that technique throughout my time serving as a Captain and I researched the information presented in that book, with a Lightning Research scientist, who could not disagree and made a recommendation to use a different frequency. Would knowing that give you confidence as a passenger? I discuss the technique I used to make “wheel landings”, in a tailwheel airplane and other aviation safety advice. The way Aborigines pass on stories to teach the next generation and generations thousands of years later, that is my book. I am passing on information I learned and experienced, to future generations. I don’t want that information lost to passing time.

More than three decades flew past, but I never thought I knew enough about flying to write authoritatively. Mine was a career that one can never know-it-all, even at the top of one’s game. Still, I am learning new information, as I keep up-to-date, with the Aviation industry.

I thank my wife for encouraging me to write my book and remind me about deadlines that I had to meet. If you would like to order a hard copy (paperback book), then please click here for my contact. I will not be offering electronic copies, at this time. Price for printed softcover book: $54.95 Australia Dollars.

The following is synopsis-

Captain Robert Cassidy retired to Central Highlands of Tasmania. He had earned his living as a Professional Pilot, since he graduated from U.S. Army flight training as a pilot flying Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopters, 23 March 1979. Twenty years later, he became a Captain, flying new Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets. He has flown about 130 different aircraft, including single and multi-engine aeroplanes, seaplanes, helicopters, as well as two and four engine turboprops and jets, during his career. Captain Cassidy graduated from Flight Safety/Boeing “Transition and Captain upgrade” course, 1 July 1999, for the Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet, which was state-of-the-art and the largest commercial airliner at the time, and the pinnacle of a pilot’s airline career. His first trip as a new Captain flying the Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet was to Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, on 20 September 1999. Mr. Cassidy became a naturalized Australian citizen.

This is the story of one young boy’s dream to fly, his escape from abject poverty to the U.S. Army, where his Aviation career began as an Army helicopter pilot, flying the Bell UH-1 Huey.

Below is the book cover I designed, presented like a fish filet, showing the back cover, spine and front cover, as one image:

Below is a layout and design of a typical chapter, using QuarkXPress 2016 desktop publishing software, which I taught myself:

The hard work has been done.  I have a Table of Contents, a list of Aviation Definitions and Terms, and an Index, as in the below:

01 June 2022 Update: My book is with Inhouse Publishing.  A proofing copying is being produce for my review, before giving the go ahead to print the book.  And, I made the front page of my local newspaper, the “Derwent valley Gazette”

20 May 2022 Update: I mailed the USB SanDisk memory stick to the Printer, today. I should note that I entered US Army Warrant Officer Rotary-Wing Aviator Course, Class 78-37, forty-four years ago, this month. Where has the time gone?

19 May 2022 Update: Do you need a laugh? Last night, I converted my QuarkXpress (.qxp) desktop publishing file of the body of the book, to a .PDF file. I felt satisfied I am finally ready to send it to the printer. Today, while just giving quick review scrolling down through the 444 pages, I found a spelling error for a last minute addition to the Index. At least I caught it, before it went to print.  Strangely, I did a final Spell Check on the .qxp version before converting it to .PDF, yet the error was not detected. Oh well.

This is what it looks like to manually check each entry of the Index to be sure the page numbers are correct. The page numbers need to be checked, because the Index creation tool leaves out some pages, so I needed to do individual word searches and record the page number, then compare it to the list of pages created by the Index creation tool.

18 May 2022 Update: I have completed the final proofreading and editing of the book.  The Index has been updated and checked. I called the printing company, today, at 2:55 p.m. and will mail a memory stick containing the PDF files. I will wait for the proofing copy to be mailed to me, and check it, before authorizing the print run. I am expecting the first copies to be printed and delivered in June.

14 May 2022 Update: Of the 30 pages of Index, I only have 3 more pages to check to assure each of the words coincide with the page numbers listed in the Index. I should note that just one entry took 42 minutes to look up each corresponding page, write it down, then check the written entries on my pad of paper against the entries in the Index. I am not far from going to print, now. I received a COVID vaccine booster, yesterday, my fourth dose, so I felt pretty awful and really had to push myself.

08 May 2022 Update: The Finish Line is in sight! I am almost breathless. I am definitely fatigued, from all of the concentration required. I am well into the “C” section and have 7 more pages of Index to proof. Then, I will do one last Spell Check. I will likely contact the Printer, tomorrow, Monday, for one last coordination before sending a PDF version to them. I am eager to see the proof copy, before I OK the print run.

06 May 2022 Update: I have been working my way through the Index of my book, in reverse order, that is from Z to A, to detect mistakes easier. I have discovered many pages not included in the Index items, as as I have done word or character searches, discovered other errors. For example, when doing a Search for ” or ‘, I would find some of these were in a different font.  I have done a search for these no less than three times, yet I have discovered a few more of these font errors. The Index is 30 pages from 413 to 443.  I have 15 pages remaining. This is a tedious process, for sure, but is necessary. Interestingly, a Psychologist Tom Stafford from University of Sheffield, in the UK has explained why authors do not detect their own errors. “Rather, we take in sensory information and combine it with what we expect, and we extract meaning . . . When we’re proof reading our own work, we know the meaning we want to convey. Because we expect that meaning to be there, it’s easier for us to miss when parts (or all) of it are absent. The reason we don’t see our own typos is because what we see on the screen is competing with the version that exists in our heads.”

30 April 2022 Update: I have proofread and made improvements to readability to the final chapter.  I decided to rename the final chapter.  I will go through the Index, within the next couple days.  It will be ready for printing May 2022.

27 April 2022 Update: I have proofread and made improvements to readability for 390 pages of 444, so far.  I have 54 more to do before sending to the Printer.  I have one last chapter to review and proofreading as well as the Index.

23 April 2022 Update: I have been making steady progress proofreading and making last minute improvements to readability. I have completed 319 pages of 444, so far.

17 April 2022 Update: I have been able to get the internal dictionary and Spell Checker working again.  I ran it three times.  Though I have proof read the book so many times and so carefully, I still found many errors.  Even after running the Spell Checker, I found an error, today, that the Spell Checker did not find.  I meant to write “handling”, but the word was spelled “handing”. So, there are no shortcuts, when proofreading. I completed proofreading and correcting 291 out of 444 pages, before I submit it to the Printer.  Making steady progress.

07 April 2022 Update: I have completed proofreading and correcting 218 out of 444 pages, before I submit it to the Printer.  Progress seems to be slower than I planned on.

02 April 2022 Update: I have completed proofreading and correcting 184 out of 444 pages, before I submit it to the Printer.  I have already sold many copies, in advance of printing.  Disappointingly, a fellow author and published writer told me that even after the book has been printed I will discover mistakes.  I hope not.  I have truly given it my very best effort to correct all of them.

18 March 2022 Update: I submitted an online Pre-publication data Service application with National Library of Australia. I am doing another read through, looking for any errors throughout the book, before I submit the PDF for printing.

16 March 2022 Update: I have had an ISBN and Bar Code issued today.

Dancing With Clouds
Never Take “No” For an Answer
ISBN: 9780648485575

I have had further negotiations with my chosen Printer.  And, I had preliminary discussion with the National Library of Australia.  I will have to modify the book’s Preface to include the National Library of Australia details.

12 March 2022 Update: I have finally completed the revision of the entire book and converted it to two  PDF files, one for the cover and the other for the book, itself.  I will be sending it to the Printer and it will be ready for purchase, shortly.

10 March 2022 Update: I completed revision of my book, editing it, and proofreading it. I also completed re-writing the Index.  The book is 444 pages in its final rendering. I will be sending the book to the printer and will be taking orders, once I they provide a complete quote.

26 January 2022 Update: I submitted my book to a Printer who was kind enough to alert me to the fact that my Desktop Publishing software had Auto Hyphenation ON and that I should turn it off.  So, I did.  It made a mess of things.  But, that was OK.  It gave me another opportunity to proofread my book. I found many errors, to include:

• missing words
• incomplete sentences
• misspellings
• lingering Queens English versus American English words
• singular versus plural
• forgot to make a word possessive context
• changed et al to et cetera
• their versus there or vice versa
• On page 332 I wrote “It would fly”, but meant to write, “I would fly”
• Considered what is a “proper noun” and changed the following-
• all instances of Pilot to pilot
• all instances of First Officer to first officer
• all instances of Cabin Crew to cabin crew
• all instances of Aviation to aviation
• all instances of Captain to captain, referring to me
• Changed page numbers, in Table of Contents and throughout book
• Found a blank page after page 97, with no page number, but just one sentence fragment
• Added another photo or two with Image Credits at the end
• Fixed word spacing
• Added a couple more recollections of my flying experiences
• Checked all weblinks in the References are still working or updated the ones that weren’t
• Fixed all numbers like 120th to make the “th” superscript like, 120^th
• Rearranged many sentences so they read better and not like I am speaking in ATC communication phraseology.

The rewriting, proofreading, and editing, with recommended changes has been completed. The book is now 440 pages. I merely need to update page numbers within the Index, otherwise the book is complete and has been proofread a few times by me and a couple times by others. It was a big job.

25 April 2021 Update: The rewriting, proofreading, and editing, with recommended changes has been completed.  I am currently seeking to either self-publish or find a publisher.

23 August 2020 Update: The rewriting, revision, correction, editing, and creation of an index has been completed. I will have one additional revision of the index, before the second edition of my book is complete.  I am not submitting a raw manuscript.  I believe it is press-ready, including the book cover designed by me, all photos suitable for press, permissions, photo credits, and references.

“Just in case”, I have found an editor who has agreed to proofread and word-smith my autobiography before introducing it to a publisher.  We have collaborated previously, just not on this scale.  I am hoping to have a finished product, by December 2020.  Please standby.

 7 September 2018: The first edition of my book was launched. The public exhibit and book launch was from 8 to 30 September 2018, at Salamanca Arts Centre, Long Gallery, Hobart.

4 January 2018: an excerpt from an email reply from the publisher of my first edition of “Dancing With Clouds”:

Dear Robert,

What an extraordinary life!

Thank you for your recent submissions to The People’s Library and for sharing these fascinating accounts of life and work in the air. We have received an exciting range of book ideas and the library promises to be both intriguing and unique. We have reviewed your submission and would like to invite you to prepare a full manuscript for your book, titled ‘Dancing On Clouds’ – to be completed by April 1 2018. We don’t currently have anything like your book in the library’s proposals and would be delighted to publish your work.   Et cetera

Kind Regards

Justy Phillips and Margaret Woodward
A Published Event

The People’s Library
Salamanca Arts Centre
Long Gallery
Hobart, Tasmania

http://thepeopleslibrary.net/
http://www.apublishedevent.net/projects/the-peoples-library
https://www.facebook.com/thepeopleslibrary2018/

Photography below was provided by Rosie Hastie, Master’s Degree Photography, UTAS. She shoots with Canon. Though, I won’t hold that against her. https://www.rosiehastie.com/

Price for printed softcover book: $54.95 Australia Dollars

To place an order click here.