I have had a hand in writing about a dozen books, including: Aging Well (with Lauren Kessler, Facts on File, 1987; Fireside Press, 1990; Italian and Chinese editions); Force of Nature: The Life of Linus Pauling (Simon & Schuster 1995, audiobook 1996); Linus Pauling and the Chemistry of Life (Oxford University Press 1998, paperback 2000, Korean and Japanese editions); Linus Pauling: Scientist and Peacemaker (ed. with Clifford Mead, Oregon State University Press 2001, paperback 2008, Chinese edition in press); The Demon Under the Microscope (Harmony/​Crown 2006, paperback 2007, e-book, audio book, book club editions); and my newest, The Alchemy of Air (Harmony/​Crown 2008, paperback 2009).

I was raised in and around Portland Oregon. After earning a master’s degree in medical microbiology and immunology — then another in journalism — I started my professional career as a communications intern at the National Cancer Institute. I worked as a freelance medical writer, a contributor to American Health, and West Coast news correspondent for the Journal of the American Medical Association, before moving into editing and publishing. I was founding editor of a scientific trade publication, then edited Oregon Quarterly, the oldest and largest-circulation magazine in the state, for ten years. I worked some years as director of communications and marketing at the University of Oregon, during which time I restarted the University of Oregon Press. During this period of my career, my wife gave me a framed cartoon of an old man on his deathbed delivering some last words of wisdom to his boy: “Promise me, son, that you’ll never have anything to do with book publishing.” Yep.

More than 100 of my articles on medicine and science have been published in periodicals ranging from Readers Digest, Self, and the Wall St. Journal to Cardio, the Medical Tribune, and the Shanghai Daily.

I have appeared on C-Span’s “BookTV” twice and been interviewed on NPR shows including “Weekend Edition,” “Science Friday,” “The Diane Rehm Show,” and “Talk of the Nation.” I enjoy public speaking and have given talks before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and many other groups ranging from reading groups to event keynotes, university classes, medical associations, scientific gatherings, health organizations, charitable giving efforts, alumni events, and peace groups.

I’ve done my share of web work as well, writing the text for several Linus Pauling websites and acting as a consultant for the National Library of Medicine.

I am lucky enough to live in the hills near Eugene, Oregon, with my wife Lauren Kessler. We have three children: Jackson, Zane, and Elizabeth.