A few years ago I set out to teach myself Web development by reading programming books. It was such a struggle that I decided I must have lost some learning ability over the years. Then it hit me... I wasn't a bad learner. The books were bad teachers! I fought my way through a dozen books, and by brute effort, learned to build websites. But I had to design exercises for myself. Without practice, I couldn't retain anything.

Coding, I learned, isn't that hard. The books make it hard. So I set out to write books that make learning to code easy. And, since exercises are the only way to make the knowledge stick, I've created, for each book, more than a thousand free interactive exercises online.

I'm a former lecturer in the Communications School of Boston University. I hold an A.B. from Harvard. My professional focus is on using simple language and interactive exercises to reduce the effort and tedium of learning. I run the website http://www.ASmarterWayToLearn.com.

Along with my wife Judy and our two politically-active cats, I live in Taos, NM, where I code for fun, cook under the ghostly supervision of Marcella Hazan, read extensively, and play showboat frisbee once a week.