I specialize in science and history, with a special emphasis on including do-it-yourself projects in the mix. My dozen or so books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. I'm also a contributing editor at Popular Science and at Make Magazine.

I started a funny book from the 1930s called The Code of the Woosters by P. G. Wodehouse. Wodehouse is a comic genius.

Yeah, it's a weird little niche, but by God, it's my niche.

Some things are better than other things: Google, Gmail, my vintage Montgomery Wards socket set (30+ years, still going strong), my Estwing framing hammer, and my Dremel rotary tool.

I spend a fair amount of time just thinking about whether something is feasible or not, and if it is feasible, whether it's really worth doing.

Leonardo Da Vinci. Leonardo is arguably the world's most famous polymath. So many thoughts and so many different ideas!

I get some of my best ideas while out walking.