John Moore grew up in the foothills of Western North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina -Asheville where he received his bachelor's degree in chemistry. He earned his Master's degree in chemistry from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. After a stint in the United States Army he decided to try his hand at teaching. In 1971, he joined the chemistry faculty of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas where he still teaches chemistry. In 1985 he started back to school part time and in 1991 received his Doctorate in Education from Texas A&M University. John's area of specialty is chemical education, especially at the pre-high school level. He has been the co-editor (along with one of his former students) of the Chemistry for Kids feature of The Journal of Chemical Education. He has authored numerous chemistry books including Chemistry for Dummies, Chemistry Made Simple,Chemistry for the Utterly Confused and Biochemistry for Dummies. He is currently working on a college textbook. John lives in Nacogdoches, Texas with his wife Robin and their two dogs and two cats. He enjoys brewing his own beer and mead and working with wood. Lately he has been creating custom knife handles and pens from exotic woods. And he loves to cook. His two boys, Jason and Matt, remain in the mountains of North Carolina along with his wonderful twin grandbabies, Sadie and Zane, and his fabulous daughter-in-law Sara.