The "academic quality books" include titles covering science, math, poetry, travel, hobbies, Chicago history, business, computers, careers, politics, law and more.
If someone has an idea for a special class to teach -- writing, computers, career counseling -- Mr. Poleon would be happy to arrange for that as well.
Once the researchers controlled for that personality variable, the gender gap shrank to statistical insignificance: women who preferred tinkering with inanimate objects were about as likely to go into computer careers as were men with similar personalities.
Bibliomation bought 505 e-books from netLibrary, including computer, career and business books.
Watch this clip and find out more about Fred's computer career.
(We also published, later in the week, this related article, an interview on computer science careers with computer science veteran Ed Lazowska).
"Computer science is not just doing boring work," she says, pointing to exciting computer-based careers in art and business.
Maybe parents have been listening to Sheryl Sandberg, who says parents should let their daughters play video games if they want them to consider computer science careers.
For a view of young people's potential in computer programming careers, however, such tests don't necessarily tell the full story.
There are more than twice as many opportunities for Windows-based computer-services careers in America than there are for jobs focused on the combined proprietary technologies of IBM, Novell, Oracle and Unix.
"There's a really strong image of what a computer scientist is — male, skinny, no social life, eats junk food, plays video games, likes science fiction," says Sapna Cheryan, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Washington who has researched why few women choose computer-science careers.
