Categories
About

Resume

Magazine Writing, Editing, & Management

Editor, PragPub, Pragmatic Bookshelf software developer magazine, 2009-2019.
Book Development Editor, Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2010-.
Editor-at-large, Dr. Dobb’s Journal, 1988-2008.
Editor, Southern Exposure Magazine, food/wine/tourism magazine, 2003-2008.
Editor, Unix Review, software industry magazine, 2000-2001.
Editor-in-chief/Associate Publisher, Dr. Dobb’s Journal, 1984-1988.
Senior Editor and member of launch team, InfoWorld, 1981-1984.
Co-author of the 20,000-word entry “History of Computing” in Encyclopedia Britannica.
Columnist/contributing writer/editor/editorial consultant, various publications in the United States, Germany, and Italy, including San Francisco Examiner, Upside, Farmer’s Almanac, MacUser, UnixReview, PC Magazin, Business Software, Whole Earth Catalog, Southern Oregon Magazine. Helped launch a book line and a number of magazines and newsletters. 30 years of magazine editing and writing with more than a jillion published articles.

Books

Fire in the Valley: the Making of the Personal Computer, McGraw-Hill, 1984; 2nd Edition 2000; 3rd Edition from The Pragmatic Bookshelf, imminent; selected by Business 2.0 magazine as one of the 100 best business books of all time, made into a movie.
Visual Quickstart Guide: RealBasic for Mac, Peachpit Press, 2003.
Dr. Dobb’s HyperTalk Handbook, McGraw-Hill, 1988.

Other Media and Ventures

Co-author of book for movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, TNT, movie nominated for 5 Emmys, 1999.
Writer and model for comic strip character Max Netroom, Investigatore Virtuale, published by the Italian company WebEgg, 1998-2002.
Co-owner, Summer Jo’s Organic Farm, Restaurant, and Bakery, Grants Pass, Oregon, 1999-2013.

Academic

MA, Computer Science, Indiana University.
BA, Psychology, Indiana University.

Contact Information

Michael Swaine
Blog: www.swaine.com
Email: mike at swaine dot com
Twitter: @pragpub or @mswaine

By Michael Swaine

Michael Swaine was part of the launch team for the first personal computer newsweekly, InfoWorld. He co-authored Fire in the Valley, the seminal computer history book on which the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley was based. He was the long-time editor of Dr. Dobb’s Journal and of PragPub and has launched, written for, and edited numerous other magazines.

2 replies on “Resume”

It’s a voice from your past. I used to be your managing editor at Dobb’s. Remember, I sent you a Christmas card in March because you gave me gray hair for being late, late with your column every month!! Anyway, I thought of you when Job’s died and pulled my second-hand copy of “Fire in the Valley” from the bookshelf (which you signed for me with: Memory is the rock…) to find out what you had to say about Job’s intentions at that time… figured him out well. Be well Mike! -30-

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *