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Sam Kean is a writer in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Mental Floss, Slate, The Believer, Air & Space, Science, and The New Scientist. He is currently working as a reporter at Science magazine and as a 2009 Middlebury Environmental Journalism fellow. From SamKean.com (Un)Official Bio: Sam Kean gets called Sean at least once a month. He grew up in South Dakota, which means more to him than it probably should. He’s a fast reader but a very slow eater. He went to college in Minnesota and studied physics and English. He taught for a few years at an experimental charter school in St. Paul, where the kids showed up at night. After that, he tried to move to Spain (it didn’t take) and ended up in Washington, D.C. He has a master’s degree in library science he will probably never use. He wishes he had a sports team he was passionate about, but doesn’t, though he does love track & field.
Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us
2017
How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations
2025
2021
The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb
2019
And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
2010
Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science
2021
True Tales of Fabled Treasures, Legendary Cities, and Mythical Creatures That Vanished From History
2026
The History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery
2014
And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code
2012
2025