I’m William X. Adams, a cognitive psychologist who left the academic classroom for the computer industry to find out if the mind is like a computer. I began as a lowly software engineer and eventually became head of technology for a national nonprofit serving homeless children. I started writing fiction to dramatize what I had discovered about human and AI minds.

My degree is from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, specializing in human memory and perception. I did a post-doc in visual perception with James Gibson at Cornell. It took me years to understand his ideas. I then taught psychology at a liberal arts college, got the travel bug and signed up with the University of Maryland’s overseas division. I traveled the world with them for several years, teaching military personnel and dependents in Europe, Asia, and the Middle-east.

Returning to the U.S., I worked as a software engineer in “human factors,” helping to design cockpit instrumentation in commercial airliners. I moved on to other software engineering firms, writing code, studying artificial intelligence. I eventually made the mistake of going into management, where I became head of technology for a large corporation. I was a terrible manager. I assumed everyone would do the right thing. Why wouldn’t they?

Fleeing the corporate world, I returned to the classroom, teaching courses with a large online component. I migrated to all-online teaching, which is a different, but effective form of education (when properly done). It also has the advantage of geographical freedom so now I live in Tucson.

I write under the pen name of William X. Adams. The “X” is silent.  But it’s distinctive, and William A. Adams is a too-common name.  Same person, in case you were wondering. Actually everybody calls me Bill (except my wife, for whom I am “Billy”), but an author has to have a serious name.  Like “William X.”

I call my science-fiction writing “psi-fi” rather than sci-fi.  That’s pronounced the same, but “psi” stands for psychology, and I write at the intersection of psychology and science. My publishing empire has begun at www.PsiFiBooks.com. That’s where I list my output that’s ready to face the world. My nonfiction is also shown there.

My rambling psi-fi musings and book reviews are at www.psi-fi.net.  I hope you’ll give it a look and leave some comments.

I’ve reviewed 350 recent books on Goodreads. If you like my take on books, see those.at www.goodreads.com/review/list/9498305 .  They’re mostly “literary” novels, because that’s what I prefer to read.

This site, www.williamxadams.org, is my official author site, designed to reassure anybody searching on my name that I really do exist.

Use the Contact Form (menu item) to get in touch with me.

Glad you dropped by!

 

Short Bio:

William X. Adams is a cognitive psychologist who left the academic life for the information technology industry to find out if the mind is like a computer. He writes psychological science fiction to dramatize what he discovered. See WilliamXAdams.org. He lives in Tucson, Arizona.