About William Gurstelle
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. 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. 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. 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." Gurstelle, William (2022). “Force” Review: Physics at Its Simplest.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.