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William Gurstelle | |
|---|---|
 William Gurstelle at Kinnernet, May 9, 2009 | |
| Education | University of Minnesota |
| Alma mater | University of Wisconsin |
| Employer | Make magazine |
| Website | http://www.Williamgurstelle.com |
William Gurstelle (born March 29, 1956) is an American academic, nonfiction author, magazine writer, and inventor. He has been part of the History of Technology, Science, and Medicine program at the University of Minnesota since 2019.[1] He is a feature columnist for Make magazine, a columnist and contributing editor at Popular Science magazine, and an occasional book reviewer for the Wall Street Journal. Previously, he was the Pyrotechnics and Ballistics Editor at Popular Mechanics magazine.
He is also the author of several science “how-to” books published by Crown Books/Random House and Chicago Review Press.
His best known work is Backyard Ballistics, which according to Newsweek magazine, has sold hundreds of thousands of copies.[2] Other popular titles are Absinthe and Flamethrowers, and The Art of the Catapult. In 2011, Publishers Weekly stated Gurstelle had sold more than 300,000 of his books.[3]
According to James A. Buczynski in Library Journal, Gurstelle's writing "balances scientific explanations of the technologies with profiles of the people who [explore] them."
William Gurstelle is now retired and lives with his wife Karen in a home in st. paul, Minnesota .
- ^ "Home". College of Science and Engineering. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
- ^ Levy, Steven (February 13, 2006). "If Martha Stewart Were a Geek". Newsweek. Archived from the original (on-line reprint) on January 29, 2013. Retrieved August 19, 2009.
Killing a thousand aliens in some pixilated corner of cyberspace can never duplicate the satisfying phoomph that comes from shooting a potato out of a homemade PVC-pipe cannon.
- ^ Kirch, Claire (April 11, 2011). "Great Balls of Fire!" (on-line reprint). Publishers Weekly. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
Gurstelle's publications mash up science, history, and DIY.