8/11/2019 Ch0 Acknowlegments
1/2
cknowledgments
A nu mb er of people in my w ri t ing com mu nity have helped g
ive l i fe and energy
to th is book. I 'm indebted to my teachers , El izabeth Harper
Neeld , Alexis Glynn
Latner , and Jacquel ine Simon, for in t roducing m e to the
craf t and for their encour-
agement . Alexis , wi th her uncanny ins ights in to th ings
technical , went on to be
my ideal reader, editor, mentor, and a continual source of
support, advice, and
confidence.
M y thanks go to Lesley S umm erhayes . She put as ide her d
isdain for engineer-
ing and pi tched in with construct ive cr i t ic ism on the
voice, the concept of the case
study, and the conception and shaping of those early chapters.
Her death was a
tragic loss.
So many co l leagues and f r i ends have con t r ibu ted to the
con ten t . The l i s t
s t ar t s w i t h m y b ro th e r , Ke n P l u m m e r , a n d
m y s o n s , F re d P l u m m e r I I I , R o b e r t
P l u m m e r , a n d J o n Er l e n d Ho l a n d , fo r t h e i
r c o m m e n t s , a d v i c e , i n s i g h t s ,
and p la in , o rd inary he lp when I needed i t . Other key con
t r ibu to rs inc lude
Ly n n B o y d , Mi k e B ra d y , Kr i s t i n F a r ry , J i m
F l o o d , Arn t E r i k Ha n s e n , P a u l
Hel len , Rob Howard , Je f f Hu le t t , R ick Johnson , J ing
Kuang , Pe te r Lacey ,
O l a v La p p e g a a rd , Ge o rg e Lo c k , L i s a S o l b e
rg Ma l l o n , Do n M a u s , W i l l M o o n ,
C h r i s t i n a No rd s t ro m , Ya ra m i P e n a , R u z i c
a P e t k o v i c , D i c k R o l s t a d , Ha a k o n
S a n n u m , S a n d y S e t l if f , B j o rn S o l h e im , R
a y S t e i n m e t z , a n d Ha r ry Un d e r l a n d .
Al l o f these peop le made the i r mark on th i s book in one
way o r ano ther bu t
th ree s tand ou t : Je f f Hu le t t fo r h i s p r ice less co
l lec t ion o f p ro jec t p ro verbs
and a sco re o f o ther inpu ts , Yarami Pena fo r h i s wise
counse l in the fo r -
mat ive s tages when I was der iv ing the con ten t and syn thes
iz ing the p ro jec t
e n g i n e e r ' s d u t i e s , a n d Ha r ry Un d e r l a n d
fo r i m p ro v i n g m y u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f
m a n u fa c t u r i n g .
Special ment ion goes to Eric Namtvedt and h is crew at FloaTEC,
LLC, for
bringing me out of re t i rement to learn the contractors ' w
orld and for their per-
miss ion to publ ish their ar twork. I 'm indebted to Malcolm
Taylor for h is candid
ins ights and R icky Brow n for help w ith the f igures . The m
any conversat ions with
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