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Rearview Mirror Chronicles
Keith Hockton, FRAS, is a publisher, podcaster, writer and author based in Penang, Malaysia. He is South East Asian Editor for International Living, a lifestyle based magazine. He lectures internationally on history and Malaysia and is passionate about making history fun and accessible to all. Keith is a Fellow of The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
His published books include:
• Atlas of Australian Dive Sites - Travellers Edition (Harper Collins Australia, 2003).
• Penang - An inside guide to its historic homes, buildings, monuments and parks (MPH Publishing, 2012; 2nd Edition 2014; 3rd Edition 2017).
• Festivals of Malaysia (Trafalgar Publishing, 2015).
• The Habitat Penang Hill: a pocket history (Entrepot Publishing, 2018)
• Alana and the Secret Life of Trees at Night (Entrepot Publishing, 2018)
• Penang Then & Now: A Century of Change in Pictures (Entrepot Publishing, 2019; 2nd Edition 2021)
• Bersama Lima - Five Together (Entrepot Publishing, 2022)
Rearview Mirror Chronicles
What Ifs - Counterfactuals
What Ifs, Counterfactuals, are a gateway to the infinite possibilities of history, where imagination collides with reality to unravel the fragile threads of what might have been. They remind us that history is not a predetermined march but a chaotic web of choices, accidents, and pivotal moments where a single decision could have reshaped the world. What if Alexander the Great had lived another decade, or Napoleon had resisted the temptation of Russia? These "what ifs" are more than intellectual play—they bring history alive, making it vivid, personal, and thrillingly unpredictable. By daring to ask the impossible, we see history not as a static story but as a living tapestry, one that invites us to think critically about the past and our own place in the intricate dance of cause and effect.