Where Did Computers Come From? follows two young brothers who find themselves on a time-traveling adventure after they discover a sentient technological construct in their garage. Where did the idea for this story come from?

Ever since my first son, Jacob, was born, I’ve had the desire to teach him all I have grown to know and love about computers. I could not find any STEM-related books for children that taught them about the origins and future of technology.

Growing up in the late 80’s to early 2000’s, technology has seen a tremendous growth and transformation, from payphones to cellular smart phones, from Ataris to Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation, from cassette (mix) tapes and Walkman to Pandora and Spotify. The growth has not stopped, nor do I feel like it will in the foreseeable future, with the continued injection of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and future Quantum technology; however, to grow is also to know the past. My intent was to create a fun, interactive book series to teach the children of today, those that are born with technology at their fingertips, where this all started, so that they can create love and respect for it and also build the technology of the future.

Did you base Jake and Eli on real children or experiences?

I have fond memories as a child, growing up and going to early computer shows at the local racetrack with my father to buy individual computer parts, from RAM, floppy drives, CPUs and coming home to put together what was essentially my LEGO, taking all of those parts and building my own computers. Since that early age I have been taking technology apart and putting it back together. I’ve had a successful career building large computer systems from concept to operations and now focused on the cybersecurity protections of them. I apply all of the knowledge I have gained over the years as the basis of accuracy for these books. The hardest part is putting them in terms kids would understand and enjoy and that is where the magic occurs. My co-conspirators and inspiration for this series are Jacob and Elijah, my two sons (9 and 7 respectively), who I talk through my imaginary concept to ensure it makes sense and is fun.

As a child, I excelled in math and science but struggled with reading and specifically comprehension and retention of information I read. This was the driver for the interactive nature of the book series. Each book has a QR code where parents, teachers and kids can open a webpage with additional supplementary information tailored to the specific story they read to reinforce the concepts. The page content ranges from fun facts, to interactive knowledge check games, and downloadable content such as connect the dots, spot the difference, etc. The play aspect of this makes it not only fun but will hopefully help retain the overall topic taught in the stories.

Techtor is a memorable addition to the story. How did you design this character to feel friendly and approachable for young readers?

The vast majority of us have a fascination with traveling through space and time. It captivates us as we watch super hero adventures or movies that challenge our thinking of moving particles through space. In the first book adventure, we see Jake and Eli traveling through time and going into the past to meet a mainframe computer. In the second adventure, they travel into the innermost parts of a computer to learn how the parts work together. In the third adventure, not yet released, we will see Jake and Eli enter into the world of coding to learn the language of computers. These concepts were drawn from great movies like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids or even Willy Wonka where humans were transported through time and space, transformed to particles and reassembled in a different location and/or size.

Can you give us a glimpse inside the next book in the Jake and Eli’s Adventures series?

As such I strive to teach my children that the boom of technology could be used to achieve great things; however, it can also be used for harm. Each book released in the series is intended to build on the previous story. As such, a future book is focused on ensuring that everyone knows how to safeguard themselves while taking advantage of the wonderful benefits we get from technology. This protection would include knowing how to avoid cyber bullies and being aware of what scary “digital” roads not to go down. It will also highlight that protection is not the job of one individual but more of the entire family. Knowledge is power. If you know what you need to be cautious of, the better equipped you’ll be to avoid them.

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