I'm a mathematician and a music software developer, author of Tune Smithy and Bounce Metronome. Recently I've been spending perhaps half my time writing science blog articles and kindle books with a strong focus on planetary protection, and careful and responsible space exploration respecting Earth as our "pale blue dot", a place to cherish, and the only place in our solar system where humans can live without protection from a vacuum or a hazardous atmosphere. My main kindle books are Moon First. and Touch Mars? which is one of the first popular books on planetary protection.

I have also written a kindle book for musicians "Vanishing Metronome Clicks, for Timing Sensitivity" coming out of my research for my software Bounce Metronome, and a book of 163 of my recorder tunes as "Recorder Tunes from the Heart"

IN DETAIL

I'm a mathematician, from the UK, currently living on the Isle of Mull in Scotland where I work from home as a software developer selling my own software over the internet. I studied at York university, got a good first class degree, and went on to do a second undergraduate degree in philosophy - then did postgraduate research at Oxford for some years. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon when I was 14, soon to turn 15, so I'm an Apollo era kid. I've had a long term interest in science, and astronomy (armchair amateur astronomer). I grew up with Patrick Moore explaining astronomy on TV. I write a blog at Science20. I have a special interest in planetary protection and my article "Ten Reasons Not to Live on Mars, Great Place to Explore" lead to an invitation as the guest for David Livingston's "The Space Show" podcast and radio broadcast on the US east coast (an hour and a half program). I've had three return visits to his show. I also write answers on Quora, on space exploration, astronomy, science, mathematics, music, and many other topics, and have been top contributor there for the last two years. I've had articles published in Forbes Magazine, The Huffington Post, Slate, Newsweek, and Business Insider. The most recent is my article for Forbes "Is There A Fortune To Be Made On Mars?"

I was also guest speaker for a conference on the search for extra terrestrial life in the subsurface oceans of Enceladus and Europa in Oxford in 2015, I was invited on the basis of my quora answers on planetary protection and on the scientific interest for the search for extra terrestrial life in our solar system.

As software developer, my top selling products are two music programs Bounce Metronome which helps musicians to play complex rhythms and work on precision and sensitivity of timing, and Tune Smithy which is used for algo comp, and for microtonal music.

I joined Amazon in order to put some of my writings onto Kindle for those who prefer to read them in book format. Most of the books here are also available to read for free as Science20 articles or as books on my website. I got this idea after reading that Andy Weir, author of "The Martian" made his book available on amazon when it was also available for free on his own website, and indeed it's true. I get a fair number of sales here for these books and articles, even though they are also available to read for free.

My science blog at science20 is here http://science20.com/robertinventor

My four appearances on David Livingston's "The Space Show" are here: http://thespaceshow.com/guest/robert-walker

My quora answers are here: https://www.quora.com/Robert-Walker-5

My published quora answers on other sites include:

Forbes magazine:

Is there a fortune to be made on Mars

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/09/26/is-there-a-fortune-to-be-made-on-mars

What if NASA Had Continued Its Lunar Program?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2016/04/21/what-if-nasa-had-continued-its-lunar-program

Huffington post:

How Close Are We To Developing A Self Sufficient Space Station?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/quora/how-close-are-we-to-devel_b_8751940.html

News week:

QUORA QUESTION: WHY DOESN'T THE NEW HORIZONS MISSION PUT THE SPACECRAFT INTO ORBIT AROUND PLUTO?

http://europe.newsweek.com/new-horizons-spacecraft-orbit-pluto-331926

Slate

Can We Terraform a Portion of Mars by Enclosing It in a Dome?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2015/10/26/can_we_terraform_a_portion_of_mars_by_enclosing_it_in_a_dome.html

How Big of a Problem Is Space Contamination?

http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2014/08/25/how_big_of_a_problem_is_space_contamination.html

These kindle books could be about any of these topics or more.

===MORE ABOUT ME===

I trained as a mathematician originally. Went on to study philosophy then to do post graduate research into set theory and foundations of mathematics.

Then I tried my hand at inventing board games. One of them was accepted for publication by Gibson's Games, a large UK games company, but they were unable to publish it because of technical difficulties. Though they were really keen on the game, they were unable to make the pieces at a suitable price, which was a major disappointment for them as for me.

I then got involved in programming music after I invented a particular type of fractal tune based on self similar sloth canon sequences. It's related to the Danish composer Per Nørgård's "infinity sequence" though not identical. Through these tunes I got involved in music software programming, first in order to hear what the tunes sounded like myself - but then added more capabilities and began to sell the software commercially.

I added microtonal capabilities, originally just as a way to explore more tunes, but then got a lot of interest from microtonal composers. As it turned out, my program gave them an easy way to compose and play microtonal music on many synthesizers and computers (through creative use of midi pitch bends), something which was hard to do at the time. Now there are many programs with that capability but I still have keen users of my program.

At present my main focus is on Bounce Metronome, another music program valued by musicians for its ability to play complex polyrhythms, rhythm cycles etc., and for its visual "bounce" effect inspired by the motion of a conductor's baton.

I have had a long term special interest in astronomy, and space science since the 1970s. I have also researched into cellular automata, recreational mathematics, and non periodic tilings, amongst other things, in my own time, since the 1990s. I found some interesting results but that was two decades ago now. I haven't tried to publish it as I got caught up with the software programming as well as the game inventing. (Probably others have proved most of the results by now). I think perhaps some of the inspiration from those mathematical ideas found their way indirectly into my music programming. Also the experience in identifying reliable sources and how to do academic research has stood me in good stead.

My kindle booklets could be about any of those topics, or more.

MY LONGER KINDLE BOOKS

ASTRONOMY, HUMAN SPACE EXPLORATION AND PLANETARY PROTECTION

Many of my books are about planetary protection issues and also human exploration and other topics in astronomy. I have written several complete books now for kindle. They are:

Touch Mars? Europa? Enceladus? Or a Tale of Human Missteps ?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAPNS3N

MOON FIRST Why Humans on Mars Right Now Are Bad for Science (Includes Astronaut Gardener on the Moon)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MF7JJK8

308 pages

Case For Moon First: Gateway to Solar System, Open Ended Exploration, with Planetary Protection at its Heart

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E0U0HWQ

511 pages

Places on Mars to look for Microbes, Lichens,... Salty Seeps, Melt Water Under Clear Polar Ice, Ice Fumaroles, Dune Bioreactors,...: Where early Mars lifeforms could survive to the present day

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014TB6S2O

150 pages

Simple Questions - Surprising Answers - In Astronomy

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016LS6OL8

308 pages

Giant Asteroid Headed Your Way?: How We Can Detect and Deflect Them

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015LOK126

102 pages

MUSIC

Vanishing Metronome Clicks, for Timing Sensitivity: And other Metronome Techniques - Many Ways to Use a Metronome

https://www.amazon.com/Vanishing-Metronome-Clicks-Timing-Sensitivity-ebook/dp/B016XTHJ8C

100 pages

Recorder Tunes from the Heart: 163 New Tunes for Solo Descant or Tenor Recorder. With a Folk Feel and a Refreshing Spontaneity

https://www.amazon.com/Recorder-Tunes-Heart-Refreshing-Spontaneity-ebook/dp/B016R28IDU

DOOMSDAY DEBUNKED

For the last year and a quarter I've also been answering many questions from the general public about hoax and fake Doomsday stories, which get them really scared. I'm astonished how many people are really worried that we might have a second sun or even an entire second solar system due to hit Earth in the next week or month. They are often so worried they even feel suicidal. Sometimes it feels like emptying the sea with a bucket trying to do something about it ,but though there are huge numbers of people scared like this, they are also individual people and every one you can help is a real person who was upset and scared and now is relieved and relaxed. I wrote my Doomsday Debunked book as well as the Imaginary Bullshit Nibiru to help these people.

Doomsday Debunked: Nibiru is Nuts, False vacuum, Big Rip, Asteroid Impacts, Pole Shift, Blood Moons - Debunking Doomsday News

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1S00R5

410 pages

Imaginary BS Planet Nibiru: Lens Flares, Sun Mirages, Hoaxes, & Just Plain Silly

https://www.amazon.com/Imaginary-BS-Planet-Nibiru-Mirages-ebook/dp/B017N5RGM4

130 pages