CASPER — Two years ago, Jon Guy was in prison after serving 17 years for a stabbing incident in Laramie in 2004.
On Friday, he headed to a book signing for the first book to be released this week.
The book, Think Straight, is a self-proclaimed “manual for the mind,” Guy says. Part science, part philosophy, this book is packed with detailed rants about common misconceptions and guidelines for combating them.
Writing the book was “a kind of comfort” for Guy in a Wyoming prison.
“It was exciting,” he said.
Guy said most of the book was researched and written in Wyoming prisons in Torrington and Newcastle. He estimates that he read about 300 books and thousands of articles while working on the project. When he finished reading the books, he donated them to the prison library.
“It was a small team of college professors, family and friends, sending letters saying, ‘I need this, this, this,'” Guy said. “They mailed me these packages and I spent hours reading this.”
He was inspired to undertake the project after hearing a lecture from a university professor in prison. One that dealt with the “deceitful mind” he saw at Newcastle, he became interested in putting together his own critical thinking curriculum that the average prisoner could understand.
Initially, Guy estimated it would take about six months to write a packet that could guide an inmate-led critical thinking group.
But he started and learned how much he didn’t know. It took him about two years to research, write and edit, and submitted it to the publisher about two months after its 2021 release. The finished project is about 400 pages.
“To be honest, what I was trying to do was a complete failure,” he laughs. “For probably three years, I literally spent all my time reading and writing when I wasn’t working.”
In 2004 Guy stabbed a man. Using a small pocket knife, he cut the man’s waist. Doctors said the stab wound hit the man’s liver, according to court documents.The man appeared unaware of the stabbing and eventually realized his friend was bleeding.
That was when he said he and a friend got into an altercation with a group of men after leaving a bar after a night of drinking at Laramie. He was arrested hours later and charged with attempted second-degree murder.
He had only been in Wyoming for two weeks after moving with his dog from California in search of a job and reduced cost of living. He had been hired by the local Albertsons before his sting, but he never got started.
After a jury found Guy guilty, he was sentenced to 30 to 45 years in prison. he was 20 years old.
He ended up serving 17 years thanks to a commuted sentence and some good time credits.
Prison administrators intercepted some scientific papers sent to Guy from outside, but he resisted the decision and got the papers back through an internal grievance process, he said.
Guy completed his time at the Casper Reentry Center in November. He now lives in Cheyenne and works for a natural gas company in Colorado.
Guy said the book is not about him. But the skepticism and critical thinking that inspired it comes from his experience.
“It’s chock-full of examples, from ghosts and aliens to GMOs and vaccines. It runs the gamut.”
Several professors, including those who helped or advised Guy during the writing process, now plan to use Think Straight in their classrooms. He has appeared on podcasts on skepticism and biotechnology, and the book will be reviewed in his Psychology Today, The Skeptic, and Skeptical Inquirer magazines. Now that “Think Straight” is out, Guy is working on a chapter in a clinical psychology textbook that will be published alongside a chapter by a giant in the field.
He still wants to see “Think Straight” sent to prison. Guy was told that he would need to contact the Wyoming Department of Corrections to determine whether each institution would use money from its budget to store prison libraries.
“I think it’s a great example of how you can completely change your life and your way of thinking,” said Guy. “It can be done.”
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