If you hit links we provide, we may receive compensation.
I attended my classes, but I was more interested in the horses than anything else.
In addition to riding, that meant grooming, feeding, and mucking out the stalls.
Credit: Penguin Young Readers
Another influence was John C. Purves, my maternal grandfather.
He was an inventor and one of the great role models in my life.
I organize the world through pictures, and my mind references words through series of visual images.
If someone says dog, my mind calls up each dog I have ever seen.
As I got older, I could picture how things worked in vivid visual detail and in three dimensions.
It was like running a film in my head.
Eventually, I could actually test run equipment in my imagination.
I could see thingsthatclearly.
Now, we say that a person is on the autistic spectrum, which can mean many things.
They may have normal speech, or they may never learn to speak at all.
Others rock back and forth all the time or need to spin themselves around and cant pay attention.
Some great scientists and inventors were probably on the autism spectrum.
Autism is not one size fits all.
I like to think of myself and other people who are different kinds of thinkers on a human spectrum.
I got teased a lot in school because my social skills werent all that great.
I knew I didnt fit in, but I didnt know why.
The kids called me tape recorder because I repeated things over and over in a kind of monotone voice.
I cared more about working on science projects and making fancy horse bridles than about the high school dance.
Kids still get teased today for differences.
Today, I would probably be called a nerd or a geek.
Though its also true that nerds and geeks tend to win Nobel Prizes and run Silicon Valley.
At least thats what happened with me.
My love of horses and cattle as a teen became the basis of my career as an animal scientist.
If one of my projects failed, I would experiment for many hours until I got it to work.
That cardboard was treasure!
I loved taking things apart and putting them back together, or making new inventions out of the pieces.
Remember: instructions are only guidelines.
I tell them the same thing: you have to experiment with the experiment!
If I had to boil this book down, my message would be this: Make Things.
when she was a child.
My fathers toolbox was more interesting to me than my mothers jewelry box.
But the part I loved was when you released the catch.
Thats how all retractable items work.
There is no substitute for real world experience and working with your hands.
And there is no greater pride than to see something you have created give pleasure or help people.
Patents protect inventors work by preventing others from stealing both their ideas and often many years of work.
The patents themselves tell a remarkable story of human ingenuity and serve a greater public good by preserving knowledge.
I still love looking up patents to this day.
When I was in elementary school, I had a book of inventors that I loved.
I remember the entry for Thomas Alva Edison, who held 1,093 patents in the U.S. alone.
I was inspired by his saying, Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
I was also surprised to learn that some inventions happen by accident.
(2) Inventing takes hard work and requires patience.
(3) Sometimes the most important discoveries are the result of serendipity.
We need all kinds of minds if we are going to figure out how to adapt.
If we lose the ability to make things, we will lose a whole lot more.
We need new storytellers, filmmakers, musicians, and artists.
There is no better way to start than by making things of your own design.
All the projects I made when I was young contributed to the inventions Ive made throughout my life.
And they have given my life meaning.
I hope these projects and the ones you create will do the same for you.
