Kasper Boon

K.L. (Kasper Lodewijk) Boon (born February 12, 1944), also known as Albert Sickler, is a Dutch writer, educator, cartoonist, and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Skills Town and 60PlusPlaza, e-learning platforms for professionals and seniors. Boon is also the creator of a Puppet Language that received a grant from the Koninklijke Bibliotheek and The Proverb game, a popular card game in the Netherlands.
Boon aims at investigating new ways for implementing learning organizations based on e-learning. Boon specializes in creating courses in different languages and has also created educational material for a VMBO in Rotterdam. His books have been adapted into audiobooks. Boon, throughout his career, has published multiple course books which were sold by Addisons-Wesley (later bought by Pearson) in the Netherlands.
==Early life and education==
Boon was born on February 12, 1944, in Amsterdam. While growing up, Boon learned how to draw cartoons from Tom Smits a famous cartoonist, which he later in his career used in his books and card games.
He later studied Applied Physics at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Boon obtained his Ph.D. in 1974 from the University of Twente. His research was based on the subject of 'The random isometric relaxation of the flexors of the forearm.’
==Career==
Boon started his career in 1980 as an author of computer books. Within a decade, Boon became Netherlands' most successful author of computer books and was highly appreciated by the general public. He was the first author of a computer science textbook. Boon also founded the Dutch National Information Education Congress (NIOC, Nationaal Informatica Onderwijs Congres).
In 1985 when he became a professor at the Dutch Open University. During his stay at the Open University Boon became President of the College of Professors (Rector), where he served for two years.
In 1996 Boon served as the Dean at Maastricht University. He worked for seven years here, during which he was also the director of the National Institute for Knowledge Systems. In 1999, Boon developed the board game Het grote taalspel with Wim Daniëls.
In 2003, Boon began developing the puppet language for the illiterate, primarily for mothers who were taught by their daughters, which took him two years. In 2005, Boon drafted the Proverbs Game series which was published by Skala Leukerleren, and Belgian edition by Wolters Plantyn.
In 2016, Boon established SkillsTown, an online training company with Hans Schuurmans. The company offers a vast range of courses that help professionals to understand an organization as an employee. Within four years of its foundation, SkillsTown was named No. 1 in the Training and Education category by MT/Sprout, one of the leading publishers in the Netherlands. 
In 2019 Boon wrote and voiced the reels Audiobooks 'In de File', for language training for learning French, English, English for Truckers, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Turkish, and Chinese (available on Storytel). In 2020, Boon started 60PlusPlaza, an online platform that focuses on seniors.
==Filmography==
* In 1991 Boon wrote the television series Goed Gezond (Dutch, AVRO), textbook published by Kempen Press
* In 1993 Boon wrote the television series Lekker Leven, Lekker Lines (Dutch, TROS) textbook published by Kempen Press
==Bibliography==
===Books under the name Kasper Boon===
* 1973 Computer, Information and Medicine (SMD)
* 1979 Programming with the Pocket calculator (Kluwer)
* 1979 Practical Statistics Using the Pocket Calculator (SMD)
* 1980 Basic and home computers (Kluwer, also published in German by Pflaum Verlag)
* 1981 Pascal for Everyone (Kluwer, also released in Russian)
* 1983 Explorer's Guide to ZX Spectrum and ZX81 (Addison-Wesley)
* 1983 Terrific Games for the TI99/4A (pseudonym Hal Renko and Sam Edwards, Addison-Wesley)
* 1983 Using & Programming the ZX81/TS1000, Tab Books
* 1983 Cosmic Games for the Commodore Vic 20 pseudonym Hal Renko and Sam Edwards, Addison-Wesley)
* 1983 Crazy games for your Commodore 64 pseudonym Hal Renko and Sam Edwards, Addison-Wesley)
* 1983 Thrilling games for the Tandy computer pseudonym Hal Renko and Sam Edwards, Addison-Wesley) 
* 1983 Awesome Games for Your Atari Computer pseudonym Hal Renko and Sam Edwards, Addison-Wesley)
* 1985 The Antagonists, Kasper Boon and Hermie Hermens, Addison-Wesley
* 1985 Series Compact Guides (Addison-Wesley)
* 1992 Conditioning part 1 & 2, a part of physical education, together with R. Pecht, G. Rijper and W. Stegeman (Nikko Toshogu Press)
* 1994 User Guide to the Epson HX-20 (Addison-Wesley)
* 2000 Aggression & Violence (Albert Sickler bv)
* 2003 Exercise, health and society, together with R. Pecht, G. Rijper and W. Stegeman (Albert Sickler bv)
* 2010 Manager 2.0, together with H. Schuurmans (Albert Sickler)
* 2014 On the end of learning, together with H. v.d. Berg and H. Schuurmans (Albert Sickler bv)
* 2016 The performing organisation, together with H. Schuurmans and D. van Heesh (WEKA)
* 2018 21st Century Skills the challenge for every employee and every organization, together with M. Akkenaar, D. van Heesh and H. Schuurmans (Albert Sickler bv)
* 2018 Life is a party, Ingrid Regout, illustrations Kasper Boon (Albert Sickler bv)
===Books under the pseudonym Albert Sickler===
* 1980's Guide to Popular Calculators (Kluwer)
* 1981 ZX81, practical tips programs BASIC (Kluwer)
* 1982 VIC20, practical tips programs BASIC, also translated into English (Kluwer)
* 1983 Epson HX 20, practical
* 1983 BBC microcomputer, practical tips programs BASIC (Kluwer)
* 1984 Commodore 64 practical tips programs BASIC (Kluwer), circulation over 100,000
* 1985 Atari, 600XL/800XL practical tips programs BASIC (Kluwer)
* 1985 Oric Atmos (Oric-1) practical tips programs BASIC (Kluwer)
* 1985 Acorn Electron (Oric-1) practical tips programs BASIC (Kluwer)
* 1986 MSX2 Basic, translated into many languages (Kluwer), circulation over 100,000
* 1986 Schneider CPC 464/664, practical tips programs BASIC (Kluwer)
* 1986 The secret of the three castles, with drawings by Loek Klaassen (Kluwer)
* 1992 All about Sharp organizers (Kluwer)
===Audiobooks===
Boon is the writer and the voice of the audiobook series 'In de File' for language learning: French, English, English for Truckers, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Turkish and Chinese.
==Personal life==
Boon married Elisabeth Agatha Maria Rijper (Elly) in 1966. They have two sons together named Bastiaan Simon (born in 1967), and Joris Gerard (born in 1969).
==In the media==
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==References==
==External links==
* Official Website
* 
Category:1944 births
Category:Dutch writers
Category:Dutch educators
Category:Dutch cartoonists
Category:Dutch businesspeople
Category:Entrepreneurs