Customer Reviews

Now Hear This: The Life of Hugh S. Knowles, Acoustical Engineer and Entrepreneur

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This excellent publication chronicles the life of Hugh S. Knowles (LF). From his meager and violent beginnings as a youth living in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution to his death in 1988.

Born in Iowa in 1904, Knowles spent most of his youth in Mexico in the midst of the Revolution. Even during his youth he exhibited great abilities, which led to his graduation from high school at the age of fourteen. His stint in the Merchant marines was a maturing experience, and the beginning of his career as an engineer. His college years almost proved to be too much, as he was talking a full course load each semester while holding done two jobs. His marriage to Josephine proved to be his true soul mate and a remarkable woman herself. She toiled endlessly throughout her entire life to support the family and his companies. Her untimely death at an early age left Hugh and his children devastated.

As Hugh traveled through life, he had a sincere interest in not only technology, but also the people he dealt with. He was a perfectionist, who always insisted on overseeing the development of produced by Knowles Electronics. He had a personable side to him, as was well respected by not only his peers, but other individuals that he encountered in life. His final years with wife Nancy were reflective.

The book nicely mixes personal/family history with technology, explaining Hugh's invention in a manner understandable to the non-engineer. Susan Goodwillie gives us in-site into Hugh's fascination with the invention of the transistor and his understanding of its importance and future applications.

I worked at Knowles electronics back in the early 1970's and had the chance to meet him. He was not very tall and I found him to be soft spoken. He spoke several languages and could talk on almost any subject. He loved travelng to visit his customers in other countries. The work that was done in that company was nothing short of amazing. I was so gald to see a book was written about him.