Email from Author Bruce Goldstone (Great Estimations)

This week I wrote about Bruce Goldstone's books, Great Estimations and Greater Estimations. I received a very nice email from him. With his permission, I'm sharing some excerpts. I think his readers would enjoy knowing more about the author. From Bruce:

"I really had a great time putting together the Great Estimation books. People always look surprised when I tell them that they are my most personal books, because they tend to equate math with cold, hard computation, like memorizing the multiplication tables or dividing fractions. But for me, numbers have always been just as entertaining and creative as letters and words. I've been lucky to find a way to share my perspective with others.

And thanks for finding a connection between my work and Marilyn Burns. She's certainly been an inspiration to me (and thousands of others!).

I'm working on a website redesign which should be ready in a month or so. The Estimatron will still be there, but I should be able to update it a bit more easily.

My next book was just released—it's about the 100th Day of School celebrations that have become so popular. It's the first book for which I took the photos myself (for the estimations books, I did all of the photo set-up, but hired a photographer to take the actual pics.)

As for the setting up, yes, it definitely helps to be patient. I bring my bags of stuff into the studio with a general plan, but sometimes things go off in strange directions. For example, the spiders and flies in Greater Estimations. I had one plan in mind, but was not at all happy with it, so I tried another, and that didn't "fly" either. Finally, I came up with the flies-in-a-web pattern that made it into the book. I think my theater background comes into play when I'm setting up photos—there's definitely a good deal of improv involved in getting the right shot."

Thanks, Bruce, for such a fascinating email...and for such great books! :)