From the New York Times of 2011-12-06, in "A Conversation with George Dyson":

Q: And today you make your living as a historian of science and technology. How does a high school dropout get to do that?

A: Hey, this is America. You can do what you want! I love this idea that someone who didn't finish high school can write books that get taken seriously. History is one of the only fields where contributions by amateurs are taken seriously, providing you follow the rules and document your sources. In history, it's what you write, not what your credentials are.

(George Dyson is the son of physicist Freeman Dyson and the brother of technology pundit Esther Dyson; cf. AuthorizedVersusForbidden (2005-07-03), WhateverYouWant (2007-02-26), HeadphoneWars (2007-07-13), AsimovOnHappiness (2007-11-07), Smells Like Freedom (2011-08-09), This Is America (2012-03-17), ...) - ^z - 2012-04-12