Speaking of which, it's been ten years now since I started writing my first book: "Bebop to the Boolean Boogie (An Unconventional Guide to Electronics)" - the only electronics book in the world to feature a mouth-watering recipe for a Seafood Gumbo taste-fest sensation.

Sometime around the middle of summer 1992, I awoke one Saturday morning with the idea that it would be really cool to visit a bookstore and see something I'd created on the shelf...so I sat down at my computer and started writing. Of course, if I'd known how difficult creating a book-length project was going to be, I'd probably have taken up a simpler hobby like downhill mud wrestling (always a personal favorite). But being young and foolish (all that's really changed is that I've grown older), I leapt into the fray with gusto and abandon.

Two years later -- after spending almost every evening and weekend penning my magnum opus, I emerged back into the real world commenting on how clothing styles had changed and how much more traffic there seemed to be on the roads than I recalled.

The road to the press
Of course, the next step was to find someone willing to publish my masterpiece. I understand this is typically something of a pain for most would-be authors. However, I was fortunate in that a friend recommended a small publisher of "technical books with attitude" called HighText based in San Diego. I contacted them vie email, they requested the proposed contents list and an example chapter or two, I sent the entire manuscript, and they responded with a contract by return mail...wow!

I later found that the typical case when an American decides to write a book is that they contact the publisher saying "I have a great idea for a book, so please give me some money as an advance and I'll write it for you." In this case the publisher responds requesting a contents list and a few example chapters, at which point 99 percent of the hopeful writers disappear off the face of the earth. By comparison, it seems that Europeans invariably pen their tomes first, and then say "Here it is, will you publish it?"

A surprising success
Truth to tell, I personally rarely read anything technical these days (I prefer science fiction) because most engineering and/or technology-based books bore my socks off. For example, in the case of electronics -- a discipline I love -- chapter one almost invariably slaps you around the head with binary arithmetic, which can be somewhat off-putting to a beginner.

Another bugbear of mine is that I remember having piles of books as a student and not being able to find the fact I was looking for in any of them. The result was that when I penned Bebop, I wrote the book I'd always wanted to read myself. I started off by explaining electronics fundamentals and the way in which components like ICs are constructed in a way that made sense to me. But I also festooned the pages with nuggets of trivia and explanations of where things came from and why we do it "this way rather than that way."

As you can imagine, when the book finally rolled off the printing presses I was a mega-happy camper. As soon as my local bookshop received their first shipment they gave me a call, and I raced down with my daughters to stand in front of the shelf and admire my masterpiece. After a few minutes I said to myself "OK, been there, done that," and we all meandered off to Burger King for a celebratory meal.

Of course my mother was really proud -- she dined out at the hairdressers for weeks explaining to anyone who couldn't get away fast enough how she had always known that I was destined for greatness. What was more surprising to me was the fact that the book received so much critical success from my peers and readers. The first edition was quickly adopted by a number of universities, and I've come to learn that it's required reading for the sales and marketing folks at a number of EDA companies in Silicon Valley.

Technology marches on
Following Bebop I never expected to write another book. However, after a few days watching the dross that was on television (I hadn't really looked at anything on "the box" for the two years I was writing) I quickly realized that I would go insane if I wasn't careful. So I started toying with the idea for a new book...which turned into two, then three, and the years rolled by.

And suddenly my publisher said "Technology has marched on -- it's time to create a new edition of Bebop." When I re-read a few chapters, it was easy to see what she was talking about. For example, way back in 1994 when I was closing on saying "The End," I noted that within the next year we might be seeing ICs with as many as 14 million transistors...gosh! In fact, we're now seeing chips with hundreds of millions of transistors. Similarly, device geometries have shrunk dramatically, new technologies have leapt onto center stage (who knew about carbon nanotubes back then?), and new terminologies have reared their ugly heads. So once again I girded up my loins and set to the task of completely updating the little rapscallion and augmenting it with even more topics and nuggets of trivia.

Any day now
So why am I waffling on about this you may ask? Well, there are two reasons, really. The first is that all of the exciting EDA-related news I have in my possession is embargoed and I'm not allowed to talk about it yet. But the real reason is that the second edition of Bebop is rolling off the printing presses as I pen these words.

As you may imagine, I am all aquiver with excitement. I've already visited the Amazon.com website for the book to pre-order a bunch of copies (I have to give them to my aunts, uncles, cousins ...and of course a gift-wrapped copy for my mom). It was, however, somewhat disconcerting when the auto-email-response from Amazon informed me that the book wouldn't be shipping until August 2003...but it turns out that there's a glitch in their system that will be fixed ASAP.

Holding a book you've written in your hands for the first time is a pretty exciting experience. I've seen mock-ups of the cover and I've fought my way through all of the page proofs, but that's not the same as having the real book in my grasp. So now I sit watching the office door, poised to leap on our UPS representative, Mike, as he staggers through the door hauling my box of books. The tension mounts. The crowd gasps. It could be any day now...watch this space.

Clive (Max) Maxfield is president of Techbites Interactive, a marketing consultancy firm specializing in high-tech. Author of Bebop to the Boolean Boogie (An Unconventional Guide to Electronics) and co-author of EDA: Where Electronics Begins, Max was once referred to as a "semiconductor design expert" by someone famous who wasn't prompted, coerced, or remunerated in any way.