My publishing coordinator asked me to arrange another round of galley proof. That gives me a chance to place last-minute corrections. Rereading the text provides a fresh outlook and reveals issues that might not be clear to the general public. My luck is that I use the editor program Grammarly which exposes any unclear sentence, phrase, or even a rare word that might confuse the reader.
Meanwhile, I will continue to upload new chapters from the second book on my academia site:
https://independent.academia.edu/BaizermanMichael
Some readers view the chapters from my first book, "The Dawn and Sunset." I think I can upload these chapters, too, though it has to wait till the following year. Each Discussion session lasts three weeks, and I don't need to hurry up. I believe that I can reach the ceiling of 10 K readers, though it might take a year or more.
Editing the text is a headache, and I give myself time to complete my self-education. I continue reading "Trade, Piracy, and Naval Warfare in the Central Mediterranean," a dissertation about the history of Malta. I am particularly interested in the maritime endeavors of the Order of St. John and their galleys. I might use this material for my chapter about war galleys.
I also decided to review the topic of my first book: the early cities in the Ancient Near East. I understand that there was more than one way to establish a town in the ancient world. It might be a ritual center, a trade outpost, or a manufacturing site. The success in one capacity did not exclude other ventures.
There are additional issues that I wish to clarify. Was the full-scale irrigation connected to the rise of the early cities, especially in southern Mesopotamia? How come such cities also appeared in northern Mesopotamia, in areas with ample rainfall? Did the advent of writing usher in a historical period? What do the bureaucratic exercises of first scribes really show us? How is the size of the city connected to its political and economic significance?
Some of these questions can take years to answer. Do not stop asking them.
