I’m a writer living just outside Washington, D.C., who has had the great good fortune to write about some of the most interesting and important topics of our time, including genetics, race, human origins, evolution, climate change, education, talent, and competition. Here’s a short description of some of the things I’ve written recently. For a longer summary of my 28-year career as a freelance writer, here’s a resume.
Lately I’ve been compiling a list of recommended books in science and technology, building on an article I recently published in the Washingtonian magazine. Here’s the current version of the list. If you have feedback on the list or a book to recommend, please e-mail me.
My most recent popular article was a piece in the July-August 2007 Atlantic Monthly entitled “Who’s Your Daddy?” I wanted to call the article “Sins of Our Fathers,” but either title gets the basic idea across. The article is about the looming conflict between routine genetic testing for disease susceptibility and undisclosed nonpaternity. As I wrote in the article, “Widespread genetic testing could reveal many uncomfortable details about what went on in our parents’ and grandparents’ bedrooms.”