The Book that Started It All.

Welcome back to the blog! Today, I wanted to turn back the clock, waaayyyyy back, to discuss the book that made me want to become an Electrical Engineer.

It all started when I was 10. I had recently joined Boy Scouts, rushed through WEBELOS in five months to get my Arrow of Light, and now I was with the big boys. I had just attended my first Merit Badge Conference, and I was itching to learn more. Already diving headfirst into researching all of the possible badges out there, all 120, (at the time) I was especially interested in the technology merit badges: Robotics, Electronics, Electricity, and Nuclear Engineering. My local college, the Washburn Institute of Technology, was holding a merit badge conference soon, and I learned that they were offering both Electronics and Electricity! Of course, I immediately signed up.

About a month later, the time had come. It was the day that would change the course of my life forever. (Overdramatic much?) I buttoned up my Scout uniform, and hopped in my friends car, eager to see what the badges were all about. After arriving at the school, we went through opening ceremony, and then it was time to start the actual courses! My first badge was Electricity. Confident as ever, I walked into the building where I hoped to learn all about the intricacies of circuits, the knowledge that I felt had been locked behind a paywall for so long. Finally, I was going to learn the inner secrets of the Cult of Electrical Engineering. I would soon be inducted into their numbers, blood oath and all. I was well on my way to be the next Tony Stark.

Sadly, for little Geoff, this badge would be a disappointment. Had I read into the fine print, I would’ve learned that Electricity meant just that. The next hour was spent discussing how electricity works, how lights turn on, and what a switch does. We did have the chance to wire up some electrical outlets… something I had already done many times with my father. “This is so boring!” I thought. “Where are the Tesla coils? Where are the ray guns? Where are the motors, the robots, the explosions!?”

This was nothing like the “Electrical Engineering” Grant Imahara from Mythbusters led me to believe.

It feels silly looking back, but this was the day I learned the difference between Electricians and Engineers. Luckily, I was still a determined, stubborn little kid, with an endless sense of optimism. I knew I had one more badge after this, and it had to be the “right kind” of electricity. Heck, it had Electronics in the name! I spent the rest of the course showing how much I already knew about electricity (I was a bit too arrogant for my own good), eagerly awaiting the next class. Once the Electricity merit badge was over, it was time for lunch. Lunch came and went, and it was finally time. (For the N^th time)

As I entered the Electronics lab, I was absolutely in awe. Hundreds, nay, thousands of pristine electronic work benches lay before me. Computers, Soldering irons, Oscilloscopes (things I had only heard of in mythos), and Power Supplies on each and every desk. More hardware than I could ever dream of owning, all in one room. This was going to be good, I thought. This is it. I’ve found my people.

I sat down at the desks with some other kids in another room, with a wall of windows facing the lab. The electronics were calling my name, taunting me from the other side of the glass. A professor walked in and introduced himself.

“Hello everyone! I’m Chaz Havens. You can call me Chaz.”

What was this? An adult, let alone, a teacher, asking us to call him by his first name?? He was so laid back and composed, is this what college would be like? Could I actually be… friends with a teacher?

As Chaz began to teach, I could tell he knew a lot about technology. We discussed resistors, LED’s, circuits and how they work. We even talked about transistors and capacitors! This wasn’t your ordinary circuits class, this was high level stuff. Next came the practical side of the merit badge. Now it was my time to shine; we were going to solder.

As we left the classroom, Chaz handed each of us a Velleman Learn-2-Solder Kit. Mine was a light up Christmas Tree, which I still have to this day. I held the components in my hands like a newfound treasure. These were NEW components! Up until this point, I had to tear apart old electronics and harvest their innards if I wanted to mess with circuits. I had seen these kits in RadioShack before, but they had been much too expensive for me to even consider buying, being upwards of $15! I found the nearest open station, sat down, and began soldering before Chaz had instructed us on what to do. I think my eagerness may have annoyed him just a bit.

As everyone was soldering their trees, traffic lights, and Wheels of Fortune together, I was asking Chaz too many questions.

“Do you know how I can learn about ICs?” “Is this what students do here every day?” “How did you learn about this stuff?” “How do I learn to make my own circuit boards?” “Can I get an extra kit?”

Chaz seemed mildly irritated by my onslaught of questions, but he was patient and answered all that he could. “No, I couldn’t have another kit,” “ICs are black magic,” “I learned it in college,” and “Yes, students do all of their labs here.” I also learned that the program using this lab was called “Advanced Systems Technology.”

Finally, when the soldering was done, and we were all about to head home, Chaz handed each of us a book. On the cover were several circuit boards mirrored across, in the shape of a V. Below the boards were presumably their circuit diagrams, and below that, in large bold letters “Getting Started in Electronics.” The author was Forrest M. Mims, III.

I immediately flipped through the book, and my eyes went glossy. In my hands, I held what some may consider the greatest electronics book of all time. Covering topics from AC & DC Power, to Lemon Batteries, Electromagnets, Generators, Signal Noise, Relays, Transforms and way more, this book broke down extremely complex topics, into something a 10-year-old could understand. This was it, the source of all electrical knowledge. I had just been handed the Holy Grail of technology, and at no extra expense.

Through the years, I read through the book many times. There was a point in my life when I probably had it memorized from back to front. I kept it safe in my room, and protected it like it was my most prized possession. A re-printed, plastic-bound knockoff, but to me, it was gold. I still have that book ‘till this day. It set me on the path of becoming an Electrical Engineer. It gave me the knowledge I needed about circuits to begin pursuing my goals, and it inspired me to share my knowledge with others. If I ever get to meet Forrest Mims someday, I’d show him the book, and what I’ve created because of it.

And as satire as some of this post may be, I’m 100% serious when I say I’d probably cry a bit when I shake his hand, because that book changed my life.

And as for Chaz Havens and Washburn Tech, the story didn’t end there. Several years later, I learned that WB Tech offered a Summer Camp for 7th - 9th graders who were interested in pursuing a trade at their school. It was a week-long program that offered a sampling of their dual-credit courses. However, one program on the list stood out to me: “Advanced Systems Technology.”

This was it, I was finally old enough to sign up. When the summer came, and the course began, I sat down in the lunch room, waiting to be assigned to my group. When AST was called, I stood up, and walked over to the man with his hand raised. It was none other than Chaz Havens. I signed up for that summer camp three years in a row, taking AST every single time. Each time we did the exact same thing, playing with infrared cameras, hooking up circuits, and programming robotic arms. And every year I went, it was like going there for the first time.

I think you can guess which course I signed up for during junior year of highschool.