A college professor once pleaded with John Pistacchi to become a writer. John, sensing more money in software, started a successful Silicon Valley computer firm instead. However, his professor’s words never faded, and John dabbled in publishing throughout his career. He has published articles in Reader’s Digest and in-flight magazines for American Airlines. His retirement has enabled him to return to his old passion. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown, John has been posting weekly observations of the humorous side of the lockdown as a way of keeping in touch with his Parkinson’s boxing group till the gym reopens. This book—an accumulation of those weekly musings—is his latest attempt at extending his literary career while maintaining his sanity in these insane times through a self-depreciating sense of humor.

Titles by John R. Pistacchi

  • by John R. Pistacchi

    Ever wonder if animals, plants, and fish communicate?


    Come along with “Pops” as he uses his camera and imagination to capture likely humorous discussions taking place in the wild.

  • by John R. Pistacchi

    This sequel to Lockdown Capers chronicles the new challenges facing John and Martha following the lockdown. John describes their valiant efforts to get vaccinated and return to a normal life. He documents their dealing with an industrial-size freezer full of expiring hoarded products, rejoining the traveling hordes, and being pursued by loan officers to refinance their home. Along the way, John also updates his readers on his get-rich-quick pasta-making scheme, his ongoing war with squirrels and smart appliances, and his seven-month battle with the DMV to get his driver’s license renewed.

  • by John R. Pistacchi

    John and Martha, in their seventies and about to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary, find themselves in a state-mandated COVID-19 lockdown, requiring them to be together 24/7. John chronicles this adventure through the lens of observational humor. As the couple navigates this strange new world of masks, sanitizers, and flour hoarding, nothing is off-limits: from new protocols, to their love/hate relationship with Amazon, to John’s paranoia about dangerous (and possibly imaginary) squirrels, or his foolproof money-saving scheme. John even finds humor in his fight against Parkinson’s and weight gain via his diet and exercise program as well as his Daily Rock Steady Zoom boxing sessions under his fighting name, FAST JOHNNY.