A Word to Planet Earth is inspired by the Voyager space probe whose long term mission is to establish contact with intelligent life in the far-flung reaches of the Cosmos. To assist in this venture the probe contains examples of the human intellect at work. In this sense, Voyager resembles some enormous inter-planetary message in a bottle. Will it ever find a reader? The same might be asked of the present work which attempts to mimic the Voyager enterprise within a human context by identifying some of the varied influences in literature and music which have shaped my life and made me the person that I am. I hope it finds a reader. A retired history teacher, David Conduct now lives in Durham where he taught for over twenty years. His studies have taken him through the universities of Hull, London, Warwick and Leicester, and his main academic interest lies in the history of ideas. This is his sixth book. When not writing he can be found busking in the streets of Durham or at www.durhambusker.com