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| Privacy/ Rights | Yours | I don't collect information when you visit my pages, and I don't deposit cookies. |
| Mine | I don't take marketing calls, I block spam, and I don't abide Intellectual Property theft. |
Home telephone, all calls screened: 699-8833. Area code? That's 301.
Please call between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern, except in an emergency.
I receive faxes only by pre-arrangement.
I don't text.
In most of my writing I seek to teach as well as to entertain. I work diligently to help my readers understand their world better. Like Terry Pratchett, whose metaphor for necessary simplification was "lies told to children," I recognize that when I present levels of detail an audience can't digest, I'm not showing respect, not helping them.
I don't talk down to my readers, either. Instead of "lies told to children," I could cite one of the gentler Marxist quotes: "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." (I haven't gotten around to reading Karl's works; Groucho's and Harpo's, yes.)
I do my best not to mislead even by what I leave out. This means I have to get hold of solid information. So I rely on sources that command my respect, I check, and I do my very best to convey the information without misleading.
When a publication's style permits, I talk as a person, to engage readers. In most of the contexts in which I've written, my readers have enjoyed the immediacy. If, given a suitable context, I can intrigue, amuse, or inspire my audience, so much the better. It’s all about connections: connecting with my readers, and helping them see connections that I've discovered.
Like other writing and editing professionals, I have some competence as a generalist. I've turned out to be a decent editor of many sorts of material. Want something more specific? I've covered many aspects of the electrical industry, psychology, safety, health, nutrition and driving. People have been happy with my work summarizing technical presentations and meetings. However, I am most interested in, and experienced in writing about, technology and science --especially social science. Areas in which I have far less interest or writing experience include politics, military activities, fashion, entertainment, personalities, economics--with the exception of behavioral economics--and sports. I did serve as an outside editorial consultant for The Psychology of Sport Medicine. Further afield, for several years I edited a quarterly financial newsletter. I even wrote for Military Grocer.
How does a publisher know that I'm qualified to write for them? That I'm conscientious and easy to work with?"
To show how many readers and editors I've satisfied, I've provided links to lists of my publications, grouped by type. Here are key points:
My writing honors suggest that I provide more than the minimum required.
Consulting and Outside Editing
CEE News
EC&EN,
EC&M
Electrical Construction Technology
Electrical Contractor
Fine Homebuilding,
Focus on the Family
Fort Lauderdale News-Sun/Sentinel
The History Channel Magazine .
HR Report
I-95 Shuk
IAEI NewsIEC Quarterly
IVHS America
Lapidary Journal,
Metalworking Equipment News
Military Grocer
Motorcycle Consumer News,
New England Builder
Perceptions
Practical Homeowner
Psychology Today
Public Power
Rider
Safedriver
Today's Supervisor
UPI
The Washington Post
The Washington Times
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My first book was Old Electrical Wiring (McGraw-Hill, April 1998). For a while it was out of print, after two printings, and much sought-after. A revised edition was published in 2010, and a third edition is overdue. You can read reviews of the book below, just after my writing references.
My second McGraw-Hill book, a steady seller that was first available December 22, 2000, covers related material.Your Old Wiring is targeted at non-electricians, including readers who may be novices at dealing with electrical systems. Of necessity, it has a different focus than the first book, and complements rather than duplicates its material. The Edward R. Hamilton web site speaks of it as well-illustrated, and Redwood Kardon, www.codecheck.com, an electrical safety instructor and original author of several well-known inspection checklists, speaks highly of it.
I encourage people who purchased either book to go to the web page where errata are available for downloading.
Not long after the death of my mentor W. Creighton Schwan, I privately published this co-authored book: Behind the Code. It is designed for audiences that may be familiar with the rules that govern wiring in the United States, but remain curious about the reasons they were adopted, and their development over time.
"UL in for Big Change? NRTL's will Decide" by Joe O'Neil, Executive Director, American Council of Independent Laboratories. IEC Quarterly">, fourth quarter 1996
"Sports Psychology & the Physical Therapist: Part I, Mental Practice" by Dr. John Heil (and), Physical Therapy Forum 6/1/94; Part II, Rehabilitation." 6/15/94
[Practical Electrical Wiring by Richter and Schwan. Originally contracted to take over authorship from 1999 (its 60th year of publication) forward. A challenge to McGraw-Hill's copyright killed the project. Eventually it was taken up by an excellent writer and subject matter expert, Fred Hartwell.]
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Standard-development writer, October 2000 to early 2002, prepared a document for adoption by the American National Standards Institute, "NEIS 302," through the National Electrical Contractors Association
Committee writer, February 2001, for TIP 9 Revision Substance Abuse Treatment for Persons With Co-Occurring Disorders,for the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment [CSAT] via CDM, Inc.
Grant review committee writer, September 1996, for U.S. Army Medical Material and Research Command, through United Information Systems (breast cancer).>
Grant review writer, November 1995, for U.S. Army Medical Material and Research Command, through United Information Systems
>Backup grant review writer, July 1995, for SAMHSA through R.O.W. Sciences, Rockville, MD.
Backup grant review writer, July 1994, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Rockville, MD.
Grant review writer, National Institutes, Spring 1993, United Information Systems., Bethesda, MD.
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From its 1983 founding till February 2018, I edited and published monthly issues of The Flexible Conduit, an eight-page newsletter for Mensa members and other intellectually curious members of the electrical industry.
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page"A Code Day in April." IEC Quarterly.
"The Code -- and the Job." IAEI News, March-April 1988.
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My editors at McGraw-Hill are long gone, unfortunately.
My most recent sale was commissioned by Fine Homebuilding's Patrick McCombe. It appeared in their February/March 2025 issue.
For a different type of reference, see the reviews of my first book, below.
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