Teacher, world traveler and essayist Sam Pickering visited campus last Thursday for a presentation titled “Seeing Things” and book signing as part of the Fletcher Lecture Series. The Nashville, Tenn. native is the author of more than 20 books, including travel, academic studies and collections of essays.

He has written 23 books of essay collections, some of which include: “Indian Summer,” “The Best of Pickering” and “The Blue Caterpillar and Other Essays.”

“Edinburgh Days or Doing What I Want to Do,” “Walkabout Year” and “Waltzing the Magpies” are Pickering’s travel books, in which he discusses his time in Australia and Scotland.

Pickering’s unique method of teaching inspired Robin William’s character in the film “Dead Poets Society.”

“So long ago, another person,” Pickering said of his character. “All you get in a movie is a fictional impression; nobody you see in a movie is a real person.”

Pickering spent time in Australia and Syria lecturing. “I lived in Australia for two years. I love Australia. In fact I wish I had been born there so I can live there,” Pickering said.

“I never know what’s going to happen and what I’m going to write about.” He is constantly reading new novels, mostly books by his friends.

“I read what my friends write. I have always been a reader. I was a reading boy that became a reading man, which is a good thing because if you read all the time then you stay out of trouble.”

Pickering mentioned that age determines what he writes about. He spends thousands of hours in libraries looking for books that he likes.

Although Pickering kept the crowd laughing at the lecture, his writings are of a very serious nature.

Pickering has been teaching at the University of Connecticut for the last 30 years. During the presentation, Pickering said he would give all students A’s just so they would take his class.

Although he reads a lot, Pickering said, “I’ve never been inspired by anything.” He said that he hasn’t had a goal since he was 17.

Though Pickering was never inspired by another author, he did share some advice that helped him have a successful career: eat healthy, jog and don’t take it too seriously.

“If Adam hadn’t eaten the apple, divorce wouldn’t be possible, and many of my books wouldn’t be possible,” Pickering said. “Writing comes from everywhere.”

Paige McElroy, psychology sophomore from Houma, said, “his lecture was very interesting, especially the different poems he choose to recite.