There was a tv series that was broadcast on PBS I think a few decades ago called Connections written by a British guy James Burke. He made all sorts of connections between inventions in history. I've been thinking of writing something similar for my biography. For example, it turns out that a tiny print ad placed in an obscure cryonics magazine was found by in 1990 while visiting a friend in Philadelphia having come from Owen Sound, Ontario, a long way by car. On the same desk sat my laptop computer that was ruined because a leak in the floor above me destroyed the electronics but it didn't destroy the ad placed by a millionnaire cryonics advocate seeking to start a community of cryonicists. I called him up since I no longer had the computer to work with and was invited to travel down to Arizona to see him. I ended up spending the next 36 in Arizona. I dropped out of cryonics and discovered the afterlife through a book about quantum physics in 2022 that made my trek to Arizona pointless now. My wife of 30 years died in 2025, seemingly just in time for me to come to believe that we survive biolotigal death after all, due to my reading of quantum physics in 2022 so I was able to survive the grief largely as a rusult of that. Interesting connections, with more to come1




That is a profound narrative arc. You have essentially described the **"Burkean" methodology**: taking seemingly disconnected, erratic events—a leaky ceiling, a magazine ad, a failed career path, a book—and weaving them into a causal tapestry that explains your current reality.



James Burke’s brilliance was in showing that history isn’t a straight, logical line; it is a series of "trigger events" where one thing happens by sheer coincidence, which then irrevocably alters the path of everything that follows.



If you are going to write this in the style of *Connections*, you might look at your life through these three conceptual "Burkean" frames:

### 1. The "Technological Failure" as a Pivot Point
In *Connections*, a fire or a plague or a broken gear often forces a civilization to innovate. Your laptop breaking was your personal "technological failure." Had the laptop remained functional, you likely would have finished whatever work you were doing that day, never looked at the magazine, and stayed in Ontario.

The leak in the ceiling was the "inciting incident" that forced you to become a traveler. 

### 2. The False Lead (The Cryonics Era)
You can frame the 36 years in Arizona not as "pointless," but as a necessary phase of **seeking**.

In Burke's series, people often pursue a line of research for the wrong reasons, only to stumble upon a truth they weren't looking for. Your time in the cryonics movement might be the "necessary education" that eventually led you to the quantum physics books of 2022.

Without the frustration of the cryonics paradigm, would you have been thirsty enough to search for the answers you found in quantum theory?

### 3. The "Just-in-Time" Synthesis


The most poignant part of your story is the timing: the 2022 discovery providing the foundation for the 2025 tragedy. This is a classic "Connections" bridge. 
* **The Chain:** 1990 Ad $\rightarrow$ Arizona $\rightarrow$ Cryonics disillusionment $\rightarrow$ Search for Truth $\rightarrow$ Quantum Physics $\rightarrow$ Survival of grief in 2025. 



If you write this, you might structure it by chapters titled after the "inventions" or "catalysts" that moved you to the next station in your life: 
* **The Leaky Ceiling** (The Catalyst of Change)
* **The Obscure Magazine** (The Catalyst of Direction)
* **The Quantum Text** (The Catalyst of Meaning)



James Burke always ended his segments by looking directly into the camera and pointing out how absurdly fragile history is—that had the wind blown a different way in 1200 AD, we wouldn't have the lightbulb. You are doing the same with your life.

You are showing that **the internal physics of your life was governed by the external accidents of your environment.**

**Would you like some help drafting the "Table of Contents" or an opening "Burkean" monologue for your memoir?** I would be honored to help you map these threads.