I am fascinated by the impossibilities facing humanity. Too many “can’t happens” lurk in the future for our outcome to be pleasant. Our planet is already being ruined, yet “middle class affluence” has reached hardly more than one tenth of the global population. Does anyone believe the planet can support ten times more affluence? I detect no hesitation in the assertion of consensus economics that we are on the one true path. Presumably there are those who think the planet can support ten times more affluence, unless they just don’t think. As the old adage goes, if something cannot go on, then it will eventually stop. In my fiction, I explore the possible “stops”, and what comes after. I was born in Toronto, Canada and grew up in Glasgow, Scotland. I studied Aeronatuical Engineering at university and then worked in R&D to make power plants more efficient and Allison-engined racing boats faster. After getting sick of being an engineer in Britain, I gained an MBA and had a rather better time as an engineer in Switzerland, Germany and Sweden, latterly as a senior manager in a global manufacturing corporation. I returned to Scotland where I have worked as a consulting engineer for a number of years. I have found engineering to be a hard master of clear English. After all, if you are detailing how a petro-chemical plant works and you confuse people with poor writing, it is not just irritating, it is potentially dangerous. Don't worry, no-one will be harmed if you fall asleep reading one of my books.