Dan Gookin

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Dan Gookin (born 1960) is an American politician and author who is the mayor-elect of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.^[1] He has served as a member on the Coeur d’Alene City Council. Gookin is best known for writing the first ...For Dummies books, including DOS For Dummies and PCs For Dummies, which established the humorous and accessible style of the long-running For Dummies series.^[2]

Life and career

Gookin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications and visual arts from the University of California, San Diego.^[2] He has written over 150 computer books. His website provides computer help sections and a blog that is updated several times a week. From 1987 to 1989, he served as editor of ComputorEdge Magazine, a San Diego computer periodical.

Gookin lives in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where he has been active in the local arts community, serving as the artistic director of the Lake City Playhouse.^[2]

Gookin first ran unsuccessfully for the Idaho Senate in 2004 as a Libertarian.^[3] Later, in November 2011, he was elected to a seat on the Coeur d'Alene City Council, defeating former Democratic state representative George Saylor.^[4]^[5]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gookin was a vocal critic of mask mandates in Idaho, voting against a Coeur d’Alene citywide mask requirement that the council approved in October 2020 by a 4–2 vote.^[6]^[7] He frequently spoke at public meetings and appeared at protests opposing face-covering requirements.^[8] Gookin later drew controversy after posting a photo of a blank COVID-19 vaccination card that he said he had purchased from a Facebook friend.^[9] He stated that he did not use the card and emphasized that his intent was to demonstrate how easily vaccination cards could be forged. Gookin described the requirement to present proof of vaccination as “another injustice in the ongoing COVID-19 saga.”^[9]

Gookin is an elected precinct committeeman for the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC),^[10] an organization he openly criticizes.^[11] In 2023, during a forum hosted by the Kootenai County Republican Women Federated (KCRWF), a subsidiary of the KCRCC, Gookin was questioned by members of both organizations about remarks on his YouTube channel Kootenai Rants that they viewed as "derogatory" toward Christians and Republicans. The exchange grew tense after Gookin defended his comments and accused the committee of refusing to condemn white supremacy and David Reilly, a former KCRCC endorsee who has been accused of antisemitic and white supremacist affiliations,^[12] leading to a heated confrontation in which a moderator briefly ripped the microphone from his hand.^[11]

Since the 2023 forum and the subsequent defamation lawsuit and 2025 settlement, Gookin has remained publicly critical of the KCRCC and its chairman, Brent Regan, accusing the committee of internal bias and a lack of transparency, while its leadership has maintained that his comments exceed the bounds of "protected" political speech.^[13]^[14]

Gookin appeared as himself on the television series To Tell the Truth, where the panel attempted to determine whether he or another contestant was the author of the first ...For Dummies book.^[15]

In November 2025, Gookin was elected mayor of Coeur d'Alene with 34.19% of the vote, with his primary challengers Debbie Loffman and incumbent mayor Woody McEvers receiving 28% and 26.46% of the vote, respectively.^[16]