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About Bob

Robert (Bob) Cowart is one of the best-known writers of books about computing, having authored 47 titles. His books include Windows 7 in Depth, Using Windows Vista, Windows NT Unleashed, Mastering Windows 98, Mastering Windows 95, Windows NT Server Administrator's Bible, and Windows NT Server 4.0: No Experience Required. Several of his books have been best sellers in their category and have been translated into more than 20 languages.

He has written on a wide range of computer-related topics for such magazines as PC Week, PC World, PC Magazine, PC Tech Journal, Mac World, and Microsoft Systems Journal. In addition to working as a freelance programmer and consultant specializing in small businesses, he has taught programming classes at the University of California Extension in San Francisco. He has appeared as a special guest on the PBS TV series Computer Chronicles, CNN's Headline News, ZD-TV's The Screen Savers, and ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.

In 2000 he co-founded a high-tech startup called Brainsville.com that produced video training guides to teach people how to use computers and complex computer software. These were distributed through computer book publishers as CD-ROMs bound into computer book titles such as the Virtual Classroom series from Osborne/McGraw-Hill and the Using Windows series from Que.

Bob is also a certified teacher of the Transcendental Meditation (TM) program. He started TM in 1972 and attended teacher training in Avoriaz, France in 1976. He subsequently taught TM in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago and Berkeley. In the 80's he instructed high-security inmates in San Quentin prison. In 1978 he participated in an experimental program to see whether large numbers of meditators surrounding areas of conflict (war zones) could decrease violence through 'subtle activism'. He volunteered with hundreds of other meditators to go to Central America to surround the war zone in Nicaragua. Scientists studied the results which appeared to support the theory. As a part of the experiment, many hundreds of others went to various war-torn areas such as Iran, Rhodesia, and Israel. Bob has been studying with various teachers of spiritual practice since the 90's, primarily those aligned with forms of nondual philosophy such as Advaita Vedanta. For those interested in such subjects, you may find his video interview with Adyashanti instructive. Click here.

Bob is a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern (MFTI), having graduated from the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco in 2008. He is (was) also a pianist, bassist, and concert promoter. He founded and hosted Hillside Concerts, a classical, jazz, and world music concert series in Berkeley running for the last 19 years.

He has had Lyme disease for an estimated 40 years, according to his diagnosis in 2006. It was probably contracted in PA, where he grew up and was often exposed to ticks. He was subsequently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2009.  The debate continues between his Lyme and Parkinson's doctors as to which diagnosis is accurate.

Most of his creative activities have been suspended due to symptoms of neurological disease. Unable to work very effectively, he is currently receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits.

Although this blog began as a vehicle for articles and commentary about high-tech matters such as hybrid cars and computer-related topics, it has morphed to be largely about Lyme disease research and Bob's personal experiences with treatment for these strange, debilitating, and politically-charged medical conditions. Lyme disease newly infects an estimated 300,000+ Americans every year.