Paul Vitello writes for The New York Times:
Richard N. Bolles, a former Harvard physics major, Episcopal minister and career counselor whose own twisting vocational path led to his writing “What Color Is Your Parachute?” — the most popular job-hunter’s manual of the 1970s and beyond — died on Friday in San Ramon, Calif. He was 90.
His son Gary said he died in San Ramon Regional Medical Center. Mr. Bolles lived nearby in Danville, Calif.
Mr. Bolles (pronounced bowls) originally self-published his manual in 1970 as a photocopied how-to booklet for unemployed Protestant ministers.
In 1972, he recast it to appeal to a wider audience and found an independent publisher in Berkeley, Calif., willing to print small batches so that it could be frequently updated. Since then, “Parachute” has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide and has never been out of print.