Make: Maverick Scientist

6 THE SILICON SHACK

Before leaving the Air Force, I told Minnie that the $1.60 per hour parking lot job would be required for only a year, for by then I would be a full-time writer. But writing for Model Rocketry was not a full-time position. My first break occurred when Don Herrington, an editor at Howard W. Sams & Co., asked if I could edit a book about diode lasers by Ralph Campbell.

The book needed serious work, and I added so much new material that I was listed as coauthor of Semiconductor Diode Lasers (1972), my first book since The Handbook of Model Rocket Telemetry. The laser book was typed on my Selectric typewriter, which I brought to the parking attendant’s booth each evening. I also brought adhesive tape and plenty of paper so I ...