What do you think?
Rate this book
Confessions of a Nerdy (but not very Talented) Engineer: How to have a Happy Life despite a Limited Set of "Life Skills"
This book is in part a memoir and also offers some tongue-in-cheek self-help guidance to assist others in navigating through (fairly minor) dilemmas in daily life. The book can be especially applicable to folks who, like the author (a self-proclaimed nerd), have a limited set of social and life skills to properly handle situations that involve human interaction. Throughout the book, the author relies heavily on self-deprecating humor, continually making fun of himself as he presents awkward situations in his life and how he handled them. His "handling" may not have been especially smooth or adroit; emotional intelligence is generally not a strong-suit of a nerd or an engineer. (Is nerd-engineer an oxymoron?) But the situations can be amusing and it is hoped that the reader would enjoy the intended humor. Also, in seeing how the socially-challenged author dealt with some of the everyday dilemmas in his life, one might gain insight in how to better handle situations like that in their own lives. That, of course, might be a bit of a "stretch" for this book. It is hoped that, if nothing else, the book provides a fun and enjoyable read.
176 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 20, 2020
1 person is currently reading
1 person want to read
About the author
Wayne Brown
71 books1 followerWayne Vincent Brown was born on 18 July 1944 in Port of Spain, Trinidad. After attending school at St Mary's College, Port of Spain, he read English at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica from 1965 to 1968, and also attended the University of Toronto. He won the Jamaican Independence Festival Poetry Prize in 1968, and in 1973 won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for his first collection, On the Coast (1972).
Brown's candidature for the Gregory Fellowship appears to have been prompted by the success of On the Coast. Following the award of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize he was brought to the attention of Arthur Ravenscroft, editor of the Journal of Commonwealth Literature, by Kenneth Ramchand; at Ravenscroft's instigation, he was approached and offered the Fellowship by Professor A. Norman Jeffares. (1) Brown was the first and only non-British writer to be appointed to the Fellowship, taking up the post in October 1974. Two years previously, William Walsh, a lecturer in the School of English at Leeds since 1957, had become the first Professor of Commonwealth Literature in the United Kingdom. Brown's own appointment might, therefore, be considered within the context of the development of the study of Commonwealth and Postcolonial literatures as an academic subject at Leeds.
Despite having found the University campus somewhat cold and impersonal, Brown appreciated the time to write that the Gregory Fellowship gave him. He later reflected on his time in Leeds as "A womby interlude. For which I remain very grateful." (2) He enjoyed meeting the students, finding them "unpretentious but high-spirited and hard-working" (3); held a weekly student poetry workshop; and contributed both poems and editorial advice to the literary journal Poetry and Audience. Volume 21:6 of the magazine, published in 1975, was issued as a Selected Poems, edited by Brown.
Also in 1975, Brown compiled and co-edited the 21 Years of Poetry and Audience anthology with Tom Wharton. Brown states that he felt "gratified at how readily the poets, some quite famous, agreed to their poems being reprinted, gratis." (4) This perhaps gives some indication of the esteem in which this small student publication was held. In addition to poems by former Gregory Fellows and other "Leeds Poets" such as Geoffrey Hill, Vernon Scannell and Robin Skelton, the anthology included contributions from poets including Philip Larkin, C.H. Sisson, Stevie Smith, Donald Davie and Ted Hughes. The cover for the anthology was designed by Brown's wife, Megan.
In 1977, Brown returned to the Caribbean, initially to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where he took up a teaching position at Fatima College, and was appointed information officer to the American Embassy. He edited a selected edition of the poetry of his mentor, Derek Walcott, in 1981. Brown went on to hold various fellowships in the United States connected with creative writing, and has also been involved in the International Writers Program at the University of Iowa. He has lectured in English at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica; and is currently a tutor in Creative Writing on the Master program at Lesley University, Boston.
Wayne Brown has continued to write both poetry and prose, publishing a further collection of his poems, Voyages (1989), and two collections of short stories and remembrances, Child of the Sea (1990) and Landscape with Heron (2000). Since 1984 he has written the social commentary column 'In Our Time' for the Trinidad Express; he currently edits the literary pages of the Sunday Gleaner. He has recently started researching and writing the second part of his biography of Edna Manley, and is also editor of the online literary magazine Caribbean Writing Today.
Brown's candidature for the Gregory Fellowship appears to have been prompted by the success of On the Coast. Following the award of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize he was brought to the attention of Arthur Ravenscroft, editor of the Journal of Commonwealth Literature, by Kenneth Ramchand; at Ravenscroft's instigation, he was approached and offered the Fellowship by Professor A. Norman Jeffares. (1) Brown was the first and only non-British writer to be appointed to the Fellowship, taking up the post in October 1974. Two years previously, William Walsh, a lecturer in the School of English at Leeds since 1957, had become the first Professor of Commonwealth Literature in the United Kingdom. Brown's own appointment might, therefore, be considered within the context of the development of the study of Commonwealth and Postcolonial literatures as an academic subject at Leeds.
Despite having found the University campus somewhat cold and impersonal, Brown appreciated the time to write that the Gregory Fellowship gave him. He later reflected on his time in Leeds as "A womby interlude. For which I remain very grateful." (2) He enjoyed meeting the students, finding them "unpretentious but high-spirited and hard-working" (3); held a weekly student poetry workshop; and contributed both poems and editorial advice to the literary journal Poetry and Audience. Volume 21:6 of the magazine, published in 1975, was issued as a Selected Poems, edited by Brown.
Also in 1975, Brown compiled and co-edited the 21 Years of Poetry and Audience anthology with Tom Wharton. Brown states that he felt "gratified at how readily the poets, some quite famous, agreed to their poems being reprinted, gratis." (4) This perhaps gives some indication of the esteem in which this small student publication was held. In addition to poems by former Gregory Fellows and other "Leeds Poets" such as Geoffrey Hill, Vernon Scannell and Robin Skelton, the anthology included contributions from poets including Philip Larkin, C.H. Sisson, Stevie Smith, Donald Davie and Ted Hughes. The cover for the anthology was designed by Brown's wife, Megan.
In 1977, Brown returned to the Caribbean, initially to Port of Spain, Trinidad, where he took up a teaching position at Fatima College, and was appointed information officer to the American Embassy. He edited a selected edition of the poetry of his mentor, Derek Walcott, in 1981. Brown went on to hold various fellowships in the United States connected with creative writing, and has also been involved in the International Writers Program at the University of Iowa. He has lectured in English at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica; and is currently a tutor in Creative Writing on the Master program at Lesley University, Boston.
Wayne Brown has continued to write both poetry and prose, publishing a further collection of his poems, Voyages (1989), and two collections of short stories and remembrances, Child of the Sea (1990) and Landscape with Heron (2000). Since 1984 he has written the social commentary column 'In Our Time' for the Trinidad Express; he currently edits the literary pages of the Sunday Gleaner. He has recently started researching and writing the second part of his biography of Edna Manley, and is also editor of the online literary magazine Caribbean Writing Today.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 18, 2021
A well written and enjoyable book. Nice to see how someone has memories of growing up in Queens, NY.
Amazing and funny at times. Highly recommend!
Amazing and funny at times. Highly recommend!
Displaying 1 of 1 review