Gurstelle, William

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Gurstelle, William

PERSONAL:

Education: University of Wisconsin, degree in mechanical engineering, 1978; University of Minnesota, M.B.A., 1984. Hobbies and other interests: Juggling, the outdoors, classical music, playing the accordion.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Minneapolis, MN. Agent— Dystel and Goderich Literary Management, 1 Union Sq. W., New York, NY 10002. E-mail—bgurstelle1@ mn.rr.com; [email protected].

CAREER:

Journalist and author, 2001—. Licensed engineer in MN. Consultant for University of Wisconsin School of Engineering, Medtronic, Marquette Bank, State of Minnesota, and Target Corp.

WRITINGS:

Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devices, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 2001.

Building Bots: Designing and Building Warrior Robots, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 2003.

The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL), 2004.

Adventures from the Technology Underground: Catapults, Pulsejets, Rail Guns, Flamethrowers, Tesla Coils, Air Cannons and the Garage Warriors Who Love Them, Clarkson Potter Publishers (New York, NY), 2006.

Whoosh Boom Splat: The Garage Warrior's Guide to Building 20 Projectile Shooters from Potato Cannons to Pulsejets and Beyond, Three Rivers Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Also contributor to periodicals, including Make, Wired, Franchise Times, Minnesota Technology, Twin Cities Business Monthly, and Rake. Contributing editor, Make.

SIDELIGHTS:

Engineer and author William Gurstelle is an "inveterate tinkerer," according to a statement on his Web page, "whose popular books capture the spirit of fun and excitement that permeates the world of personal science and technology." In books such as Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball Mortars, and More Dynamite Devices and Adventures from the Technology Underground: Catapults, Pulsejets, Rail Guns, Flamethrowers, Tesla Coils, Air Cannons and the Garage Warriors Who Love Them, the author explores the world of backyard science—and the people who pursue it with a passion.

In Adventures from the Technology Underground, for instance, "we meet Frank Kosdon and others," wrote a reviewer on Gurstelle's Web page, "who draw the scrutiny of the FAA, ATF, and other federal agencies in their pursuit of high-power amateur rocketry, which they demonstrate to impressive—and sometimes explosive—effect." "Gurstelle," remarked James A. Buczynski in Library Journal, "balances scientific explanations of the technologies with profiles of the people who [explore] them." In fact, "the author explores not only the people who devise these wondrous new inventions," stated Booklist critic David Pitt, "but also the technological wizardry behind them." Despite the dangers of playing with these highly explosive devices, a reviewer for California Bookwatch concluded that the volume is "a lighthearted, fun survey of the scientist's motivation results."

Gurstelle's The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery explores the growing fascination with ancient weapons of war that relied on basic principles of physics for their damaging effects. "Re-creating these simple yet sophisticated machines," declared a writer on Gurstelle's Web page, "introduces fundamentals of math and physics." The author's work also strives to place the machines in the context of their times. "The working model of the Macedonian Ballista is cool," stated Steven Engelfried in School Library Journal, "but even more so when one learns the role that catapults played in the campaigns of Alexander the Great."

Much of the science that Gurstelle presents in his books, however, is just as cutting-edge as it is historically interesting. The pulsejet, discussed in Adventures from the Technology Underground, for instance, was used to power aircraft during World War II. Hitler's scientists used pulsejet engines to power the V-1 cruise missiles that were launched at England in 1944 and 1945. The engines are still used today in model aircraft and in some military applications. Rail guns have been considered as one means of sending objects into space, and they may have applications in nuclear fusion experiments.

It is this level of scientific involvement that Gurstelle tries to excite in his readers. "In the old days, we got good engineers because people got to focus on it early," he told New York Times essayist Henry Fountain. "For many children, particularly boys, free play used to mean fiddling around with a chemistry set in the basement or lighting things on fire in the backyard," Fountain continued. "These days, with parents' penchant for overscheduling their children, there is less time for such youthful experimentation." Nonetheless, with the proliferation of television programs like Robot Wars that exalt the tinkerer, suggested Steven Levy in Newsweek, the do-it-yourself ethic of home-based experimentation is alive and well. "Whether you're a builder or a dreamer," Levy concluded, "the Maker Ethic is empowering. Its lesson is that in a world where we are overwhelmed by stuff, we should aggressively assert control over the gadgets around us."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 1, 2006, David Pitt, review of Adventures from the Technology Underground:Catapults, Pulsejets, Rail Guns, Flamethrowers, Tesla Coils, Air Cannons and the Garage Warriors Who Love Them, p. 40.

California Bookwatch, May, 2006, review of Adventures from the Technology Underground.

Library Journal, January 1, 2006, James A. Buczynski, review of Adventures from the Technology Underground, p. 150.

Newsweek, January 30, 2006, Steven Levy, "If Martha Stewart Were a Geek."

New Yorker, December 9, 2002, Mark Rozzo, "They, Robots," p. 35.

New York Times, May 19, 2002, Henry Fountain, "When Backyards Were Laboratories."

School Library Journal, November, 2004, Steven Engelfried, review of The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery, p. 164; April, 2005, review of The Art of the Catapult, p. S62.

Science News, July 3, 2004, review of The Art of the Catapult, p. 15.