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Forrest Mimms Has Done Much More Than Most Engineers Know (hackaday.com)
szczys writes: If you've been anywhere near the field of electronic design, the name Forrest Mimms (the 3rd) is familiar. He wrote the book on electronics, and is heavily associated with the publications found in every Radio Shack. His entire life has been one prolific science experiment after another, which is why the title of Citizen Scientist fits so perfectly. For example, he invented and has used on a daily basis a device to measure ozone in the atmosphere. It worked so well he discovered and reported a calibration error in NASA's measurements, which are made with satellites.
What's puzzling is they either missed or ignored the rise of the whole maker/hacker space movement that's happening right now. Kids are getting back into building and tinkering with stuff, but RadioShack is DOA. Their whole business model is completely incoherent. They should have dominated this space.
I was introduced to Forrest Mim's books, by browsing through a Radio Shack about 1974. I was into model rocketry and trying to learn basic electronics at the time and found his material very instructive. I consider him a gift to anyone trying to gain insight in electronics, from the level of a hobbyist all the way to a professional.
"Endeavour to persevere"
I did that for a while as a teenager until my best friend and his friends broke into one of the Radio Shack store. They used a glass cutter to cut the glass out from the frame at ground level without setting off the alarm. Two were skinny enough to crawl through. The third was too fat and used the glass to cut an opening to unlock the front doors. Needless to say, the cops were waiting for them when they came out. Although I had nothing to do with the heist (except die from laughter when I heard the details), I was no longer welcomed at that store.
Whether or not you believe in young-earth creationism or intelligent design has nothing to do with your aptitude in non-biology sciences and in engineering. I know a number of rather bright electronics and computer folk who are also YE creationists.