ANTIC Interview 456 - Stanley R. Trost, Electronic Arts Financial Cookbook

Stanley Trost, Electronic Arts Financial Cookbook 

 

Stanley R. Trost wrote several books about early microcomputers, including Atari BASIC Programs in Minutes, Doing Business with VisiCalc, Multiplan on the Commodore 64, Useful Basic Programs the for IBM PC, VisiCalc for Science and Engineering, and others. He was also the creator of Financial Cookbook, which was published by Electronic Arts in 1984 (and one of only two "home management" titles released by EA, the other being Cut and Paste, "the Remarkably Simple Word Processor").

 

Financial Cookbook provided 32 financial calculators and decision-making tools, including understanding your marginal tax rate, living on your savings, how much life insurance you need, variable rate mortgages, and so on. Versions of the program were sold for Atari 8-bit and ST, Apple II, Commodore 64, Macintosh, and perhaps other platforms.

 

This interview took place on March 24, 2025.

 

Atari BASIC Programs in Minutes 

 

Doing Business with VisiCalc 

 

Financial Cookbook at AtariMania 

 

Inverse ATASCII podcast about Financial Cookbook, including many screenshots 

 

Video version of this interview 

 

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