Jamaica teen publishes book to help classmates learn about tech

Nathan Rampersaud, a high school student, wrote a book on the basics of computers to help his peers learn about tech while learning remotely.  Photo courtesy of Rampersaud

By Jacob Kaye

As the realities of pandemic life began to really sink in last year, a Queens high school student decided to pass along his knowledge of a tool that everyone was getting to know a little better while stuck inside their homes.

Though he’s only still a student himself, Nathan Rampersaud, a junior at Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education High School in Jamaica Hills, wrote a book last summer about the basics of computers to help his peers in their journey into remote learning.

“Intro to Computers,” which is self-published by Rampersaud, is a guide to PC components, troubleshooting, networking, malware, security issues and other concepts necessary for the foundations of learning about how computers work.

Rampersaud began writing the book in August 2020, soon after he turned 16 years old and learned that he and his peers would be learning remotely for the foreseeable future.

“We don't know what's happening or what was going on and so I thought, ‘Okay, kids are going from in-person to this remote learning and if you looked at all the resources that were available to students in-person, it was so much easier to learn in-person,” Rampersaud said. “Although I wasn’t aiming to solve the issue completely, I could at least take a step forward and create user knowledge and learning from my [Career and Technical Education] class and put together a book that was understandable.”

The guide came together fairly quickly, the Jamaica teen said.

With the help of a friend and a teacher, Rampersaud turned around the book in two months. After looking into ways to publish it, he settled on self-publishing through Amazon and the book went live by November.

Rampersaud said the biggest challenge wasn’t figuring out what information would go into the book but rather, how the information should be conveyed.

“When it came down to content, that was pretty easy – I already knew it,” he said. But the other issue that I faced was how would a student perceive this?”

“School doesn’t really teach for understanding,” he added. “I tried to incorporate all aspects that I could with pictures, diagrams, organizers – everything that I could get my hands on with the capabilities of a 16 year old – and then formulated it all into a book, sourced all that I needed to, published it and included my contact information should they need me.”

Rampersaud said the reception has been great. Students have reached out to tell him that the book has been helpful in their own journey of getting to know computers.

And Rampersaud is not just sharing knowledge – proceeds from the book are being donated to causes aimed at helping people recover from the pandemic.

“We thought that we could help as much as we can,” he said. “The royalties we get on Amazon, we donate back to help them even more.”

While Rampersaud doesn’t have any immediate plans to publish another book before graduating high school, he’s begun to make plans for the future.

He’s considered staying local for college but has also set his sights on Yale, where he hopes to continue his STEM education.

“I was working with a professor [at Yale] and it really just clicked. It was a good fit,” Rampersaud said. “Especially with my wanting to help people and be a community minded person, which is what they represent.”

“Intro to Computers” is available for purchase on Amazon.com.