Testimonial re my book, The Last Blackout

David's Wisdom : Newsletter 123, by David Lipschitz BSc (Honours) MBA

Dear Colleague

Here is a testimonial from Natasha Groupies, who found my book in her company's library. Thanks Natasha for this wonderful testimonial.

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Testimonial by Natasha Groepes

27/08/2024

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The last black out - David Lipschitz

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I’m a social reader of science fiction and philosophy, romance to family novels is more my thing.

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The last black out was a book out of my normal, my colleague saw me looking at old thick brown books in the office to read in the bus whilst I commute to work even home from work. He stopped me from what I call a 'blood flow' walk because we tend to sit long at our desk and said, "I think you should read this" I gave him look of confusion, firstly how does he know I read, secondly what makes him assume I would like the read and thirdly he said " no man, I saw you didn’t find a book you like yesterday" finally I understood my "firstly".

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Long story short, I’m in the bus and I’m looking at the face of the author and I’m like 'this gentleman on the book marker and at the back of the book looks familiar and I cannot put my finger or brain on it, anyway I kept the book marker on every page during my read thinking, this might help to remember whose book I’m reading anyway.

Short story long (yes that’s what I said) I have a habit of not reading what the author has to say in the beginning of the book, I choose to read the back of books and the pages in between, I would check the font, okay perfect and there was only David's face at the back of the book, anyway I read a few sentences in between - ask me what got my attention, I’m not sure. Eskom?? Maybe? I don’t know.?

Act one - Scene I, was so confusing, I already had so many questions, where was I when this blackout happened, i then turned to the very first page of the book just to get the date the book was published, okay 2022 but could David of went through this black out when I was not born?? You know what I told myself “Read the book, it may just make sense as you go along" keeping in mind I never read the first 10 pages marked as roman numerals I think they call it. I am not as educated as David.

David was confused as I was, but he was confused for more serious reasons by the events where his use to certain functions operating normal and poof a sudden change even with his friends who do not reside close to him, thank goodness David kept his landline, like who even cares about landlines these days, its useful during a power outage??????.

This is a good read for so many reasons, its realistic and as much as David loves his abbreviations, you will not feel dumb I promise, it educates you on new abbreviations, if you are not familiar with it yet! The same way the clothing like the vintage jean and jackets with a crop top is making fashion seem as if it’s a new thing in 2024, halloooo if you in your 30's like me but have a good body ask your elders for their old photos, that's where the inspiration came from. Now listen to David using landlines and Nokia phones that has longer battery life than our R18 000 mobile devices which in a blackout the battery will last maximum 2 hours if you are using it frequently. OLD SCHOOL is always a school every year.

I’m spiralling, I personally sent David a Teams message to inform him that I am reading the book, felt like I was sending a celebrity a message and this I could finally take off my bucket list, and I can because it’s not every day you would read a book of an author and have direct access to sending a message but I quote:

" Hi David, I am on page 61 already! Scene IV is my favourite, so inspiring not sure if this was your aim. I found the book in office yesterday and its kept me to my seat while I'm commuting home with the bus and to work.?

Its inspiring me to stop smoking even. This money can be used for those date balls instead while I'm craving a cigarette.

Thank you for the good read thus far. "

At this point the day before leading to page 61. I was commuting home with the bus thinking It is cheaper with the bus, it cost me R880 every month but because I’m beating the system but it still getting me home anyway appose to when I was in a lift club, I would pay R1200 per month fetching and dropping me at home that is. Funny I’m mentioning this, my friend that works with me travels with me in the million rand bus when she is not working from home, and we use to car pool (lift club) to and from work in her car, she would tell me petrol is expensive, it is and she was the one that lift my book while reading in the bus asking me isn't this David that works by us and I was like Oh my goodness' yes! The bookmark went to the back of the book, and I couldn't wait to message David the next day as quoted above.

Imagining what it was like for David,? having to revolve his life around this black out, I couldn’t be too concerned anymore, he made smart choices to feed himself with information and food including the community, man even the president and I again ask myself because I’m not into history so much, what year was Sibongile president? anyway I do this to myself often and remember I have not read the preamble and Disclaimer.

When everyone came together for a braai, this reminded me of how we are so glued to technology that we forget how healthy people can be for us, well if the blackout God forbid happens again, my phone will be off just like everything else. The simplicity of life can be invented but with AI coming to life gradually without us noticing it we will forget about saving on petrol, money, preserve food, get a freezer, by the way a vertical freezer I’m in agreement there David!!! every household should have one but may not be helpful if Eskom keeps it off for too long.

In essence David really captured a picture-perfect event if not events, realistically speaking, being an individual who experienced load shedding for a couple of hours not as long as the blackout, The last black out got me thinking about adding super foods to my diet, in fact you could buy prepacked ones if you not prepared to make it yourself. Point here is that David connected and reached out to the correct people including the community to not only bring his story of resilience across but to bring and help empower the black out. Imagine what your family and friends would think of you eating differently, using old technology, saving on petrol and taking a taxi in this day and age. Well, this book puts emphasis on how dependent we are on electricity and resources dependent on electricity, but a plan can be put in place it’s all about execution and being mindful of your lifestyle that includes everything you dependent on daily.

If you were reading to understand my thoughts on this book, i take back what once confused me because I kept wondering where I was when David and SA went through this blackout with Sibongile the president. ?? but when I read the preamble and Disclaimer, and man electricity controls our lifestyle and then things we do to operate work and life is its own scenario. it made sense that he was writing and referring to the future fictionally and we all know even a SCI FI movie comes to life... like the movie Contagion showed in 2011 and Covid19 came to fruition in 2019 in SA.

Thank you for the read and point taken David.?

Natasha Groepes

Buy on Amazon or Draft2Digital .