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Interview with Leonard Woody

Leonard Woody is the author of Essential Mathematics for Quantum Computing; we got the chance to sit down with him and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.

Q: What are your specialist tech areas?
Leonard : Quantum Computing

Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Leonard: Packt reached out to me after seeing my blog posts on quantum computing. I was very excited at the possibility of writing a book. They had two titles they wanted to produce and one of them was exactly what I wanted to write, the mathematics of quantum computing!

Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Leonard: You could say that my research started when I studied math in college, but I really started researching the book in earnest when I the offer by Packt was made. I spent many hours researching the book and had about 15 go to titles that I referred to often.

Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Leonard: Of course! Where to start? How many pages. What if this doesn’t come out right?

Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Leonard: It all depends on if we can develop a fault-tolerant quantum computer. I am optimistic that we can, but it’s very hard to say when.

Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Leonard: My book is written for beginners in the field and only assumes high school math knowledge.

Q: What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away with from the book?
Leonard: I want them to have a solid grasp of the concepts and tools they need to excel in quantum computing.

Q. What advice would you give to readers learning tech? Do you have any top tips?
Leonard: Read, watch videos, do exercises, repeat.

Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow?
Leonard: https://lwoodyiii.wordpress.com/

Q. Can you share any blogs, websites and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning?
Leonard: Books are my go to and the reference is called affectionately “Mike and Ike”. The actual title is Quantum Computation and Quantum Information by Nielsen and Chuang. It is not a learning book, but a reference.

Q. How would you describe your author journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Leonard:
My journey has been up and down and all around. I think this is natural, you will feel many emotions. It is a marathon, not a sprint.

Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Leonard:
No

Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Leonard:
I have a google news section that keeps me up to date on developments in quantum computing.

Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Leonard:
The proposal and outline process is good. I also created a project plan in the beginning!

Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Leonard:
Just write. Don’t get into analysis paralysis.

You can find Leonard’s book on Amazon by following this link : Please click here

Essential Mathematics for Quantum Computing – Available on Amazon