Sam Kean is the New York Times best-selling author of The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb; Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air around Us; The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements; The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery; and The Violinist’s Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code.
The Bastard Brigade was on NPR Science Friday’s list of Best Science Books of 2019, while Caesar’s Last Breath was The Guardian’s science book of the year in 2017 and a runner-up for the 2018 Best Book Award from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In addition, The Disappearing Spoon was short-listed for the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books in 2011, and The Violinist’s Thumb and The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons were nominated for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award in 2013 and 2015, respectively, as well as the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books.
Mr. Kean edited the 2018 edition of The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, Psychology Today, and Slate, among other publications. He also has been featured on such programs as NPR’s Radiolab, All Things Considered, and Fresh Air.
Mr. Kean’s books have been translated into 24 languages around the world, and he hosts a podcast called Disappearing Spoon. He received BA degrees with honors in Physics and English Literature from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as well as a master’s degree in Library Science from the Catholic University of America in Washington DC.
