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Dr. Alan Tharp, Brain's master's degree adviser, says he was an outstanding communicator and computer science teacher at NCSU. It was there that Brain met his wife, Leigh.

He was different, she says, because of his "outside of the box" ideas. "One thing I noticed when I first met him was that he always thinks big," she says. "He's constantly asking himself, 'How can this change the world?' "

One step toward that goal was HowStuffWorks.com, which he started in 1998 working from his kitchen table. Brain calls it the classic Internet success story.

"I would write articles about how stuff works and put them on the Web for free. My idea was that these articles would help people understand all the incredible stuff that surrounds us today."

The popularity of the Web site allowed Brain to write and sell a slew of "How Stuff Works" books.

He sold the company in 2002 to Atlanta-based Convex Group, run by WebMD.com founder Jeff Arnold.

Brain "is a very active spokesperson for us, he's always on CNN or Fox," Arnold says.

The book royalties and the sale made Brain a millionaire, but he only recently gave up his 1995 Ford Ranger for a new Jeep Liberty; partly because he got a "fantastic" deal on it. "You can get three rebates," he exclaims.

Brain prefers faded jeans to suits and enjoys fishing with his children -- ages 4 to 8 -- as well as taking them to McDonald's.

Currently, he is trying to shed 25 pounds and, true to form, he is writing about it. See the "How Dieting Works" section on www.howstuffworks.com.

He hasn't left the how-to business at all. He is working on another book: a primer about how to make a million bucks.

"He's never complacent," Leigh Brain says. "No matter what awards he gets, he's already thinking about what's next."

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