Rob BrownellRob Brownell grew up in rural Virginia. Over the course of his thirty-five-year career as a mechanical engineer, he designed consumer products ranging from children's toys to medical devices. He is named on nearly thirty patents for his work with Funtion Engineering, a Silicon Valley design firm. Once upon a time, he worked on Apple's ill-fated Newton digital assistants. An untalented but persistent musician, he found joy crafting and playing banjos until ALS confined him to a wheelchair. Contrary to the fiction you might eventually read in his obituary, he is not bravely battling the disease-he is struggling to maintain a sense of humor. Writing through voice control has mercifully extended his creative life. Read More Read Less