My latest book is a collection of essays called SERIOUS FACE. People like it. (⭐️Publisher's Weekly: "A rich collection, a portrait of human resilience and helplessness" ⭐️Booklist: "Readers will laugh and tear up" ⭐️BookPage: "Such a gifted storyteller it almost doesn't matter what he's writing about" ⭐️Kirkus: "A master essayist" ⭐️The TODAY Show, best summer read: "If you want humanity, this is it.") I'd love it if you'd order it now from an independent bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple or wherever.

My last book, THIS IS CHANCE!, about the 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake and radio broadcaster Genie Chance, was named a best book of 2020 by Amazon, BuzzFeed and Brainpickings. Maybe you missed it because it had the misfortune of coming out exactly as the pandemic was shutting everything down. Please buy a copy at an independent bookstore, Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Apple.

My first book, WILD ONES, about endangered species in America, was chosen as a best book of 2013 by The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, NPR’s Science Friday and Canada’s National Post among others. Might as well buy it, too!

I am a writer with the New York Times Magazine, where I've been contributing since 2006. Here's ALMOST EVERYTHING I'VE EVER WRITTEN.

YOU CAN EMAIL ME THIS WAY. Or SUBSCRIBE TO MY MAILING LIST HERE.
You can also find me on Twitter, though I've mostly stopped using it.

For book publicity matters, please contact Karen Fink at Random House.
My literary agent is Jin Auh at the Wylie Agency.
My agent for film and television is Jason Richman at UTA.

I'm from New Jersey. I live on Bainbridge Island, next to Seattle. I look like this:









Extra information! I’m also Writer at Large for Pop-Up Magazine, a “live magazine,” performed on stage, a contributor to podcasts and radio like 99% Invisible, The Daily and This American Life, and a former columnist at Wired. I’ve frequently talked about my reporting on radio and TV shows (Fresh Air, NPR, Radiolab, the Colbert Report, etc) and have spoken at TED. I also created the hit podcast The WALKING Podcast, but it was too popular so I stopped. My work has been anthologized in books like The Best American Science and Nature Writing and the Best American Sports Writing. Occasionally, I collaborate on live storytelling and music projects with members of the Decemberists, like this and this.