A Columbia author recently completed his first book in some time, gathering a substantial collection of quotes from great minds through history intended to make people think.

Shawn Williamson has lived in Columbia for many years now, and his background is primarily in finance.

He served for many years as managing partner of a certified public accountant firm, helping to oversee audits for Monroe County for 16 years.

Williamson previously wrote for Successful Farming Magazine, his articles discussing various tax, investing and management issues.

With some other books prior, his most recent was “Big Success in Small Business: Lessons Learned from a Thousand Small Businesses,” which meant to serve as something as a good for folks looking to step into the world of entrepreneurship.

His latest book has a slightly broader focus, with “All the Wisdom in One Place” simply serving as a collection of famous figures throughout history and the nuggets of wisdoms that they shared with the world.

“I give a little blurb about when they lived and basically who they were and then one or more quotes from the sources,” Williamson said. “Then I do a little explanation, my own two cents on what I think that means to our lives today, try to apply it to anyone who’s reading it now.”

Williamson said the 262-page book features 225 different sources, with figures ranging from Louis Pasteur to Wayne Gretzky. He noted Benjamin Franklin and Mark Twain both seemed to offer a particularly substantial amount of insight he wished to include.

He further spoke to the variety of his sources, ancient philosophers, modern businessmen and many others offering insight from various ages and perspectives.

Williamson offered some of his favorite quotes – noting that finding a favorite among over 500 can be difficult – with Pasteur’s “Luck favors the prepared,” and Dale Carnegie’s “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you have,” standing out for him.

He explained the length of the book was important to him, as he wanted to keep the project fairly easy to digest for anyone who might be looking to gather some knowledge from history’s standout minds.

“My goal was to do 250 pages, and I ended up doing 262,” Williamson said. “I don’t have the attention span to read 500-page books, so I kind of put myself in the position, ‘Would I read a book that was 500 pages? No, I wouldn’t. Would I read one that’s 250? Yeah, I might.’”

In that same vein, Williamson said the book isn’t exactly meant to be consumed like a novel. Rather than someone tearing through it over the course of a weekend, he instead expects folks would enjoy reading it in a more piecemeal way.

This, he said, would help people engage with the book in the way he intended, taking the time to consider each quote, where it came from and what it might mean for them personally.

“I encourage people to make notes too, put their own comments in the book,” Williamson said. “Maybe they disagree with my opinion on what something means, they have their own opinion or they want to come back to that quote… I think people will probably enjoy reading it the best in smaller bites, four or five pages at a time.”

Williamson reiterated the main purpose of his new book, saying it’s primarily meant to serve as a rundown of some – but by no means all – of the greatest pieces of wisdom throughout history.

“It’s trying to give my friends, family, descendants and beyond one book that they can pick up and read and be exposed to most of the major brilliant minds in history and most of their big ideas, to give someone one book where they can learn a big chunk of the wisdom that exists in the world,” Williamson said.

While he suggested that anyone could be able to appreciate the book or be inspired by the quotes inside, he added young adults would likely be the ones to really get something out of it.

“My wife feels that it’s something that would be best probably for someone young, starting out life, someone in their 20s who’s capably of understanding the ideas but hasn’t lived a whole life yet. Anyone can still learn things,” Williamson said.

“All the Wisdom in One Place” is currently available on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble, with copies also available at the Columbia Public Library.