Robert Courland

Robert Courland (1952- ) was born in Long Beach, California. He grew up in Southern California, but moved to Northern California in the late 1970s to enter the then-nascent personal computer industry. Courland combined his technical expertise with his knowledge of world history, current events, and foreign languages to focus his attention on international sales and marketing. He retired from the high tech world in 2001 to pursue a writing career in San Francisco, specializing in history and non-fiction. While he is principally known as a chronicler of San Francisco's past, he is equally at home with topics embracing ancient Rome, Third Republic France, or Wilhelmine Germany. His most recent book, Concrete Planet, charts the curious history of concrete, as well as how the material has impacted, both positively and negatively, human society over the years.