I’ve written print and web features, reported pieces, essays and criticism, mostly about books (nearsighted bookworm), science (geology degree), and nerd stuff (raging nerd). For the determined Internet stalker, find a more comprehensive list of articles here.
Book Criticism
Three Dystopian Novels, The New York Times Book Review, 9/5/19
The Curious World of Seaweed by Josie Iselin, Bay Nature, 8/29/19
How to Do Nothing by Jenny Odell, The Believer, June/July 2019
Rising by Elizabeth Rush, Bay Nature, 6/11/19
The 2019 Tournament of Books: Milkman vs. The Italian Teacher, 3/8/19
Adele by Leila Slimani, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/17/19
Eager by Ben Goldfarb, Bay Nature, 12/7/18
All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung, The Rumpus, 11/14/18
Timefulness by Marcia Bjornerud, Bay Nature, 10/12/18
There There by Tommy Orange, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/6/18
Anatomy of a Miracle by Jonathan Miles, Los Angeles Review of Books, 3/29/18
Laura & Emma by Kate Greathead, The Rumpus, 3/28/18
Red Clocks by Leni Zumas, The Rumpus, 2/14/18
Eternal Life by Dara Horn and How to Stop Time by Matt Haig, Los Angeles Review of Books, 2/10/18
Daphne, by Will Boast, San Francisco Chronicle, 2/9/18
The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin, San Francisco Chronicle, 1/19/18
The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas, The Rumpus, 10/17/17
The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone, San Francisco Chronicle, 10/6/17
Sourdough by Robin Sloan, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/7/17
Caesar’s Last Breath by Sam Kean, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/28/17
Bleaker House by Nell Stevens, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/25/17
Since December 2018, I’ve been a reviewer for Kirkus, contributing unsigned, bi-weekly reviews of upcoming fiction releases.
Essays
“‘Circe’ Shows Us How Storytelling Is Power—And How That Power Can Be Seized,” Electric Literature
“Looking Up,” University of Chicago Magazine: An essay in which I wax sentimental about the summer I spent hunting gargoyles at my alma mater.
Web Reporting
“It’s Too Late to Save the Glaciers, but Scientists Are Saving Some Pieces in an Antarctic Vault,” WIRED
“How Climate Change Will Redraw Louisiana’s Flood Maps,” WIRED
“Scientists Are Using Tarantula Venom to Learn How Your Body Hurts,” WIRED
“Why Frozen Sperm Can’t Save Earth’s Imperiled Species–Yet,” WIRED
“A Natural History of That Little Yellow Flower That’s Everywhere Right Now,” Bay Nature
Nerd Stuff
The New York Times: “CRISPR Will Change the World“: For the New York Times’ November 2017 kids section, I wrote a cover-story explainer of how CRISPR works, complete with a prediction matrix and a how-to guide!
WIRED: “Know Your Meat—and Bugs. Introducing the Periodic Table of Protein.” For WIRED’s August 2016 food issue, I trawled through the USDA’s nutritional database to create a full-spread periodic table of proteins, categorizing everything from Nutella to Soylent by protein content. (Designed by Keirnan Monaghan and Theo Vamvounakis.)
WIRED’s What’s Inside: This print magazine column delves into the chemistry of everyday objects including Tide Pens, Scotch Magic Tape, and lithium-ion batteries.
Features
WIRED: “Built to Blast: Behind the Scenes as NASA Tests the Most Powerful Rocket Ever,” December 2017. A photo essay for which French photographer Vincent Fournier got exclusive access to take pictures of the Space Launch System, the rocket NASA is building to eventually take people to Mars (they hope). I wrote all the words. My very first piece in WIRED’s feature well!
WIRED: “Meet the Heroes Fueling the New American Space Boom,” November 2016. For WIRED’s Obama-edited issue, I interviewed seven inspiring, diverse workers in the new space industry about their jobs and what they see as the future of spaceflight. Photographed by Dan Winters.
Bay Nature: “A Tern for the Better,” July/September 2016. A look at Hayward’s Tern Island, a manmade, painstakingly maintained least tern colony that’s ground zero for the return of the endangered bird to the Bay Area.
California: “Giving Credence: Why is So Much Reported Science Wrong, and What Can Fix That?,” Winter 2015.
Bay Nature: “The Randall Museum Closes for a Makeover, and the Animals Get a Big Adventure,” 7/1/15. On San Francisco’s adorably janky children’s nature museum.
