Product Code Database
Marshall David Brain II (May 17, 1961 – November 20, 2024) was an American author, public speaker, futurist, businessman, and academic, who specialized in making complex topics easier to understand for the general public. Brain was the founder of HowStuffWorks.com and the author of the How Stuff Works book series. He hosted the National Geographic channel's Factory Floor with Marshall Brain and Who Knew? With Marshall Brain.
Marshall taught in the computer science department at North Carolina State University from 1986 to 1992. He also wrote computer programming manuals and ran a software training and consulting company.Manjoo, Farhad. "Welcome to the machine?" , Salon, 18 September 2003.
In 2008 and 2009, he hosted Factory Floor with Marshall Brain and the Who Knew? With Marshall Brain, both on the National Geographic channel. For these shows, Brain showed viewers how products are designed, tested, and manufactured. Brain says shows like this are popular because "We use this stuff every day and some of it's so interesting. Like the science underneath it, and how people use that science to make the product and other people make it cheap enough for all of us to be able to afford it."
Brain appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Oz, Good Morning America, CNN, and Modern Marvels. CNN interview with Kyra Phillips, CNN, August 15, 2003.
In addition to his How Stuff Works nonfiction book series, Brain wrote about robotics, transhumanism, and atheism, including his books The Second Intelligent Species: How Humans Will Become as Irrelevant as Cockroaches (2015) and (2012). Brain maintained that automation and robots will lead to unemployment for humans, such as 1.5 million big-rig truck drivers in the U.S. losing their jobs to self-driving cars, requiring a government guaranteed minimum income.
Brain last lectured at, and was the director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program at North Carolina State University. He worked on EcoPRT, a new transportation system, with Dr. Seth Hollar.
Brain was found dead in his office at Centennial Campus on November 20, 2024, at the age of 63. His death certificate described the cause of death as suicide. Two and a half hours before his body was discovered, he sent an email to over 30 recipients claiming that he had been forced into retirement at North Carolina State after filing an ethics complaint against Veena Misra, dean of the Electrical and Computer Engineering department, writing “I have just been through one of the most demoralizing, depressing, humiliating, unjust processes possible with the university.”
| + !Books !Publisher !Date !ISBN | |||
| Motif Programming: The Essentials... and More | Digital Press | 1992 | |
| Using Windows NT: The Essentials for Professionals | Prentice Hall | 1993 | |
| Win 32 System Services: The Heart of Windows NT | Prentice Hall | 1994 | |
| Windows NT Administration: Single Systems to Heterogeneous Networks | Prentice Hall | 1994 | |
| Visual C++ 2: Developing Professional Applications in Windows 95 and NT Using MFC | Prentice Hall | 1995 | |
| Windows Application Design with OLE 2.0: For Windows and Windows NT | Prentice Hall | 1995 | |
| Developing Professional Applications: For Windows 95 and NT Using MFC, with CD-ROM | Prentice Hall | 1996 | |
| Sybase System XI | Prentice Hall | 1996 | |
| Win 32 System Services (2nd edition) | Prentice Hall | 1996 | |
| The Teenager's Guide to the Real World: How to Become a Successful Adult | BYG Publishing | 1997 | |
| Microsoft Technology: Networking, Concepts, Tools | Prentice Hall | 1998 | |
| Understanding COM+ | Prentice Hall | 1998 | |
| Win 32 System Services: The Heart of Windows 98 and Windows 2000 (3rd Edition) | Prentice Hall | 2000 | |
| Windows CE 3.0: Application Programming With | Prentice Hall | 2000 | |
| How Much Does the Earth Weigh? (Marshall Brain's How Stuff Works) | Wiley | 2001 | |
| Marshall Brain's How Stuff Works | Wiley | 2001 | |
| Marshall Brain's More How Stuff Works | Wiley | 2002 | |
| What If...? Intriguing Answers for the Insatiably Curious | Wiley | 2002 | |
| Brain's Sum and Substance Quick Review on Contracts, 7th edition | West | 2006 | |
| The Science Book: Everything You Need to Know About the World and How It Works | National Geographic | 2008 | |
| The Day You Discard Your Body | BYG Publishing Inc. | 2012 | |
| How to Make a Million Dollars | BYG Publishing Inc. | 2012 | |
| How to Raise Money from Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists | BYG Publishing Inc. | 2012 | |
| Manna - Two Views of Humanity's Future | BYG Publishing Inc. | 2012 | |
| The Meaning of Life | BYG Publishing Inc. | 2012 | |
| 50 Things that Can Kill Your Child and How to Avoid All of Them | BYG Publishing Inc. | 2013 | |
| Robotic Nation & Robotic Freedom | BYG Publishing Inc. | 2013 | |
| The Engineering Book: From the Catapult to the Curiosity Rover, 250 Milestones in the History of Engineering | Union Square Co | 2015 | |
| How God Works: A Skeptic Questions Belief | Sterling Ethos | 2015 | |
| The Second Intelligent Species: How Humans Will Become as Irrelevant as Cockroaches | BYG Publishing Inc. | 2015 | |
| How "God" Works: A Logical Inquiry on Faith | Sterling Ethos | 2016 | |
| The Doomsday Book: The Science Behind Humanity's Greatest Threats | Union Square Co. | 2020 |
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