Dreams are one thing but actions speak volumes, especially when it comes to writing a book.

After years of dreaming about it, Rick Stuby of New Tripoli realized a long-held dream with the release of his first book, “Declaration of the American Mind.”

The idea originated a few years into this new century.

“This book was a long time in the making in my journey through politics and religious faith,” Stuby said.

He explained the book was an effort to “figure out some of the things that were happening in the everyday culture of America.”

“‘The Declaration of the American Mind’ is not about politics, but being about government, history and culture, it naturally relates to politics,” Stuby said.

Consequently, research was paramount.

“I strove to use only original source material that was as contemporaneous to the events that I was researching,” he said.

Google Books and a few other sources on the Internet made those resources very accessible.

“Google has digitized thousands of books from libraries all over the world,” Stuby explained.

“What could have taken years to find in daily visits to the Library of Congress was available in my home office.”

The research led Stuby to develop “unique insights into American culture based on the Declaration of Independence.”

“The American Declaration of Independence is the founding document that established America’s vision and culture,” Stuby said. “People venerate the Constitution, but it cannot rightly function without the Declaration of Independence.”

Stuby worked hard to make the book interesting and informative to a broad adult audience, including those of high school age.

”Especially anyone “interested in America who wants to know what the foundational American culture is,” Stuby said. “That may be someone trying to sort through the cognitive dissonance of what we see and hear.

“It may be someone trying to figure out how one person’s rights balance against those of another.

“It may be a religious person wondering how they live within their faith and, as an American, or it could be someone who has no interest in religion but is interested in understanding how American culture intersects with religion.”

The book has its genesis in the early 2000s but the 2016 election cycle was a big impetus.

“I started the book in late summer 2017,” he said. “I was laid off work in March 2017.

“I had a lot of it written by the end of January 2018; worked on it sporadically while consulting in the first half of 2018, and worked on it more steadily in fall 2018.

“When I took up full time employment, I didn’t do much until fall 2019, mostly cleanup editing.

“I finalized things, including figuring out the daunting publishing process between January and April of this year and finally got it listed on Amazon on Easter Day, April 12.”

Because of the pandemic, a traditional book launch is not in the cards, at least for now, but he “launched” the book to colleagues on LinkedIn and will send out promotional copies to drive interviews.

Stuby is vice president of marketing at Linx Technologies, a wireless technology company with locations in Wayne, and Merlin, Ore.

He earned a Master of Business Administration degree in corporate entrepreneurship from Lehigh University and a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech.