Welcome

You’ve found the Web site of Ian Tresman. I am happily married to Caroline; and we have two children, Adelaide and Cameron. The Tresmans have their own Web site too, and you can also see our family trees.

If I bought a newspaper, I’d be a Guardian reader. I used to be a passionate squash player, and recently discovered Krav Maga, a form of self-defence.

My main business is running Knowledge Computing as a Web publisher. I grew up and lived in Elstree and Borehamwood, moved to Derby at the end of 2003, and to Cheshire in 2009. I went to Furzehill School and Nicholas Hawksmoor School.

Interests

Background

I was an average kid. I compiled crosswords for a time, having my first one published in 1978; it’s called a Hexaword because of its unusual hexagonal grid. About the same time, I built my first computer, a UK 101 with an incredible 4K Ram memory. It took a whole weekend to solder together, and a further two weeks to fix. A couple of months later I had written my first arcade game called Road Racer, and even sold a couple of copies to other testosterone bursting teens (I also wrote a game called Sheepdog Trials but suspect that it suffered from an image problem).

I have a fairly academic background which means that I have all the skills necessary to programme a video recorder set-top box. You would have found me at the University of East Anglia in the School of Chemical Sciences between 1979 and 1982 (B.Sc Chemical Sciences), and at The University of Manchester between 1982 and 1983 completing a Masters in Computer Science. I’m also a one-time inventor.

More recently I have earned University Certificates in astronomy, cosmology and related subjects from the University of Central Lancaster, culminating in a Certificate of Higher Education, including a University certificate in radio astronomy via Jodrell Bank (Manchester University).

Favourite Sayings

“Keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re an idiot, rather than opening your mouth and removing all possible doubt.”

“There are two ways to defeat your enemy. One way is to defeat them in battle, the better way is to make them your friend.” – Loosely based on text from The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for life.”

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to use the ‘Net, and he won’t bother you for months.”

Some Favourite Books (non-fiction)

The Vicars of Christ (1988) by Peter de Rosa
The history of the Papacy, full of intrigue, murder, mystery and sex. Revelations include an account of mad Pope Stephen VII (896-897) who dug up his deceased predecessor Pope Formosus after he had been dead for nine months, dressed the rotting corpse in full pontificals, placed him on the throne, and interrogated him on the charge of becoming Pope under false pretences. Other goodies include Pope Joan (a female Pope), married Popes, a Jewish Pope, anti-Popes, and Popes that sired children.
The Electric Sky (2006) by Don Scott
A description of the Plasma Universe and the importance of plasma in astronomy.
The Shadow Factory (2008) by James Bamford.
A description of America’s secret National Security Agency, revealing material later publicised by whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
The Multilingual PC Directory (1991-1995) by Ian Tresman
My first book! (now out of print) (Archived) It was all about how to get your PC to work in different languages with the help of third party software. It was even translated into Japanese (see Publishing section)
Quantavolution: Challenges to Conventional Science (2011) edited by Ian Tresman
My second book.

And a calendar:

The Plasma Universe Calendar 2014
Now out of date, but lots of pretty pictures