Before buying a book, many people like to know who the author is so they can determine whether the author′s credentials may somehow make the book more pertinent or valuable in some obscure way. So to help you make a snap decision on whether to buy this book, here′s a quick look at my resume.
Name:
Wallace WangE–mail address: bothecat@home.com
Objective: To convince people that they′re not stupid; it′s the poorly designed computers and software that are.
Work and Education Experience: 1979 Graduated from high school with absolutely no marketable skills or direction whatsoever. Support your local school system.
1983 Graduated from Michigan State University with an (appropriately abbreviated) Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Science, the only engineering major I could find that offered the most non–technical electives. Also pursued a dual degree in English that I never completed because I felt I already knew how to get a minimum wage job all by myself.
1983–1985 Worked as a technical writer for General Dynamics, home of the nuclear–tipped cruise missile. Got in trouble once for referring to General Dynamics as a bomb factory,"" so from that point on I bought chocolate covered doughnuts for my boss, hoping to clog his arteries with cholesterol and induce a fatal heart attack. After turning in my resignation, I spent every day, for the final two weeks, taking home office supplies in shopping bags.
1985–1987 Worked as a writer/editor for a San Diego computer magazine called
ComputorEdge, where I met Dan Gookin (
DOS For Dummies, 3rd Edition), Tina Rathbone (
Modems For Dummies, 3rd Edition), and Andy Rathbone (
Windows For Dummies). At one time, Dan Gookin and I got in trouble with the FBI for printing a fake FBI poster of myself, proclaiming that I was a criminal for buying a Macintosh computer.
1989 Worked as a writer/editor for a San Diego computer magazine called
ComputorEdge, where I met Dan Gookin (
DOS For Dummies, 3rd Edition), Tina Rathbone (
Modems For Dummies, 3rd Edition), and Andy Rathbone (
Windows For Dummies). At one time, Dan Gookin and I got in trouble with the FBI for printing a fake FBI poster of myself, proclaiming that I was a criminal for buying a Macintosh computer.
1989 Spent a month teaching computer classes at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare, Zimbabwe. Took time off to visit Victoria Falls, canoe down the Zambezi River, and sleep in a hut where wild monkeys snuck up behind me and stole my breakfast.
1990–Present Decided to pursue stand–up comedy and began performing in comedy clubs around San Diego and Los Angeles.
1993–Present Got married and soon became the owner of four cats named Bo, Scraps, Tasha, and Nuit.
1994 Appeared on "A&E′s Evening at the Improv."
1995 Became a columnist for
Boardwatch Magazine.
1996 Finally ran out of office supplies that I had taken during my final two weeks working at General Dynamics 11 years ago.
1997 Tried to get another job with General Dynamics so I could steal another decade′s worth of office supplies.
1998 Invented a solar–powered car. Unfortunately it stalls every time you try to drive under a bridge.
1999 Solved the Y2K millennium bug by turning back all the clocks in my house 100 years.
2000 Discovered the missing number that would solve Albert Einstein′s Grand Unified Field Theory. That number is 4.
2001 Wrote to Arthur C. Clarke and told him his book was wrong.
On her first day of college, Asha Dornfest took a bold step: She replaced her broken typewriter with a PC.
Asha did not consider herself a geek; her computer was simply a tool to help her write papers and reports. But by her senior year, she had defended her clunky PC against so many insults from Mac–loving roommates that she came to regard her computer with a sense of kinship.
After graduation, Asha trudged into the real world with a liberal arts degree and strong computer skills. (Which do you think got her a job?) She soon realized that she enjoyed showing people how computers could simplify their lives, when the things weren′t making life more difficult, that is.
In 1994, Asha discovered the Internet. Soon after, she and her husband Rael started a Web design business in their dining room and began hawking their electronic wares. Mind you, this venture began during the Web–publishing Stone Age; many people had never even heard of the World Wide Web. A savvy friend quipped that For Dummies books about Web publishing may one day hit the shelves. Asha scoffed.
Today, Asha writes and teaches classes about Web publishing and other Internet–related topics. She welcomes visitors to her virtual home at ashaland.com.
