ID the Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.

Welcome to ID the Future. I'm your host, Andrew McDermid.

Today I'd like to read for you an exclusive excerpt from Maverick Scientist,

My Adventures as an Amateur Scientist from Maverick Scientist, My Adventures as

an Amateur Scientist.

Maverick Scientist is the memoir of Forrest Mims, who forged a distinguished scientific career

despite having no academic training in science.

Named one of the 50 Best Brains in Science by Discover Magazine, Forrest shares what sparked

his childhood curiosity and relates a lifetime of improbable, dramatic, and occasionally outright

dangerous experiences in the world of science. At 13, he invented a new method of rocket control.

At 17, he designed and built an analog computer

that could translate Russian into English and that the Smithsonian collected as an example of an early

hobby computer. While majoring in government at Texas A&M University, Forrest created a handheld

radar-like device to help guide the blind.

And during his military service, he had to be given special clearance to do top-secret laser

research at the Air Force Weapons Lab. Why? Because while he lacked the required engineering degree,

they wanted his outside-the-box thinking on the project.

He went on to co-found Mitz Inc., producer of the first commercially successful personal computer,

wrote a series of electronics books for a Radio Shack that sold more than 7 million copies,

and designed the music synthesizer circuit that became known as the infamous Atari

Punk console.

All this came before he started consulting for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and Noah's

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