Author Spotlight

George Koch

Although I am endlessly fascinated by the world, science and people, easily amused, and generally happy, my writing tends to be very serious. It is what I care deeply about, and wish to clearly share what I've learned. I include examples, anecdotes and personal experiences to help sketch out my thoughts and make concepts more accessible, but always with a serious goal in mind. The most common response I've had over the years has been, "Oh! That's what that is about. Now I get it!" I try to take difficult concepts or situations and explain them in ways that can cause an "Aha!"

I've been an inventor, a successful entrepreneur, a senior business executive, and an Anglican priest. I've traveled the world and seen the enormous disparities in basic living conditions worldwide and in our own country. It has become ever more obvious to me that much of that disparity is both intentional—the wealthy and powerful wanting to maintain their places—and unnecessary but hardened into the structure of our governments and commerce. We have abundance far beyond our imagining. We are terrible at distributing it. I honestly don't care if some people are far richer than others. I just believe everyone should have their common needs met, by everyone, and we can do it. The Golden Rule is treat others the way you want to be treated. Mutual care isn't a communist or socialist conspiracy. It works just fine in a capitalist economy; you just have to decide to do it. It is common sense, and it allows more of us to prosper and thrive. I wrote Bullies, Parasites and Slaves: Replacing Exploitation with Mutual Care to detail the truth of exploitation in history and in the world today. The reality is that those at the bottom of the economic pile subsidize the wealth and comfort of those above them. It isn't a crazy-person conspiracy theory. It's the truth, and I wanted to lay out the facts, and then provide some practical steps to fix it. The book is structured to do both.

A follow-on book called Mutual Care which lays out in even greater detail the needs we all have in common: for food, clothing, shelter, health, education, liberty and safety. All seven are necessary for mutual care, for each of us to live and thrive, and for all of us to prosper and be safe together. We are wise when ensure these for everyone, and thereby guarantee them for ourselves. The "how" of meeting them can be worked out, but the necessity is certain. Mutual care is the ancient "golden rule" that arises in all great religions and philosophies throughout the world. Its genius is in ensuring that no one is excluded, exploited or left behind, and that our common needs are met by all of us, together. No one should gain by denying another what they need, or by stealing through force, deception, or neglect. Needs should be met for all, by all. For us. By us. It is the foundation for human thriving. I still cling to the naïve hope that we can care for each other without requiring conformity. I honestly don't care what you believe or do unless it leads to harm. It would be a very good thing if we could speak kindly to each other, and not advance our own ideas by belittling those who think differently.

About the Author: The Rev Dr George Byron Koch (coke) has been a widely published author for more than 60 years, with his work appearing in magazines, newspapers, television and books (his own and anthologies). He has been a writer, editor, senior business executive (an SVP at Oracle and CEO of two national companies), and an Anglican priest. He has traveled the world extensively and writes from what he has seen. His books have sold more than a million copies worldwide in multiple languages, and audio versions of them are heard on more than 700 radio stations in North America, the United Kingdom and Africa. He's also an active ceramic artist, and a fascinated dabbler in languages, physics and number theory. He is still trying to figure out what he wants to be if he ever grows up. He has been published in numerous newspaper, and magazine articles, including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Free Press, Recording Engineer/Producer Magazine, Conference Board Magazine, Christianity Today, Journal of the Four Sigma Society, Recreational Mathematics, and others

Books:
Oracle, The Complete Reference 1989-2014 in 8 languages
The Country Parson's Advice to His Parishioners 1998
What We Believe and Why 2012
Healing Prayer 2023
Bullies, Parasites and Slaves 2025