It was mostly me but I got great support from a number of community members (credited in the intro of the book). I did learn everything from scratch using my beloved Shapeoko3, which I bought in 2017 and got immediately hooked with CNC in general and having fun with the Shapeoko specifically. It did help that I am an engineer with an appetite for tinkering with the electronic side of things.
No donation needed, this was my attempt to give back to this very helpful community!