Paul Levinson

Infobox Person
subject name = Paul Levinson


caption =
birth_date = 1947
birth_place = Bronx, New York
occupation = Professor, Author

Paul Levinson (born 1947) is an American author and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York City. Levinson's novels, short fiction, and non-fiction works have been translated into twelve languages.

As a commentator on media, popular culture, and science fiction he has been interviewed over 500 times on many local, national and international television and radio shows. He is frequently quoted in newspapers and magazines around the world and his op-eds have appeared in such major papers as the "Atlanta Journal-Constitution", New York's "Newsday", and the "New York Sun". He was interviewed in a short weekly spot early Sunday mornings on KNX-AM Radio in Los Angeles, from 2006 to 2008 on media-related news events and popular culture. He hosts four podcasts and maintains several blogs.

In 1985 he co-founded Connected Education, offering online courses for Masters credit. He served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 1998 to 2001.

He has been a Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University since 1998; he was Chair of the department from 2002 to 2008. He previously taught at the New School for Social Research, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Hofstra University, St. John's University, Polytechnic University of New York, Audrey Cohen College and the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute (WBSI). He has given lectures in classes and conferences at many universities including the London School of Economics, Harvard University, New York University, and the University of Toronto and authored over 100 scholarly articles.

Prior to his academic career, Levinson was a songwriter, singer and record producer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with recordings by the Vogues, Donna Marie of the Archies and Ellie Greenwich. As a radio producer he worked with Murray the K and Wolfman Jack.

Levinson's work is influenced by Isaac Asimov, Thomas Jefferson, John Stuart Mill, Marshall McLuhan, Karl Popper, Carl Sagan, and Donald T. Campbell.

Education

Paul Levinson graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, attended the City College of New York (CCNY) in the 1960s, and received a BA in journalism from New York University in 1975; an MA in Media Studies from the New School for Social Research in 1976; and a PhD from New York University in media ecology in 1979. His doctoral dissertation, "Human Replay: A Theory of the Evolution of Media" (1979), was mentored by Neil Postman.

Author

Levinson writes science fiction, fantasy, and sf/mystery hybrids with philosophical undertones as well as non-fiction about the history and future of communications media, the First Amendment, the importance of space exploration, and popular culture themes. His work has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Polish, Romanian, Macedonian, Croatian, and Turkish.

He has received acclaim for his writing, including multiple nominations for the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Prometheus, Edgar and Audie Awards. His novella "Loose Ends" was a 1998 finalist for a Hugo, a Sturgeon, and a Nebula. His novel "The Silk Code" won the Locus Award for Best First Novel of 1999.

The central character of "The Silk Code", NYPD forensic detective Dr. Phil D'Amato, made his first appearance in Levinson's novelette, "The Chronology Protection Case", (published in Analog magazine, September 1995). D'Amato returned in "The Copyright Notice Case" novelette (Analog, April 1996), "The Mendelian Lamp Case" novelette (Analog, April 1997), and in subsequent novels "The Consciousness Plague" (2002), and "The Pixel Eye" (2003). An adaptation of Levinson's "The Chronology Protection Case" (radioplay by Mark Shanahan with Paul Levinson & Jay Kensinger) was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the Edgar Award for Best Play of 2002. Levinson's most recent book is "The Plot To Save Socrates", a time travel novel. "Entertainment Weekly" magazine called it "challenging fun".

Novels

*"The Silk Code" (1999) Tor Books ISBN 0-312-86823-5
*"Borrowed Tides" (2001) Tor Books ISBN 0-312-84869-2
*"The Consciousness Plague" (2002) Tor Books ISBN 0-7653-0098-2
*"The Pixel Eye" (2003) Tor Books ISBN 0-7653-0556-9
*"The Plot To Save Socrates" (2006) Tor Books ISBN 0-7653-0570-4

Non-fiction books

*"In Pursuit of Truth: Essays on the Philosophy of Karl Popper on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday" (editor and contributor) with Forewords by Isaac Asimov and Helmut Schmidt (1982) Humanities Press ISBN 0-391-02609-7
*"Mind at Large: Knowing in the Technological Age" (1988) JAI Press ISBN 0-89232-816-9
*"Electronic Chronicles: Columns of the Changes in our Time" (1992) Anamnesis Press ISBN 0-9631203-3-6
*"Learning Cyberspace: Essays on the Evolution of Media and the New Education" (1995) Anamnesis Press ISBN 0-9631203-9-5
*"The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution" (1997) Routledge ISBN 0-415-15785-4
*"Bestseller: Wired, Analog, and Digital Writings" (1999) Pulpless ISBN 1-58445-033-9 [includes fiction and non-fiction]
*"Digital McLuhan: A Guide to the Information Millennium" (1999) Routledge ISBN 0-415-19251-X
*"Realspace: The Fate of Physical Presence in the Digital Age, On and Off Planet" (2003) Routledge ISBN 0-415-27743-4
*"Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium and How It Has Transformed Everything!" (2004) Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 1-4039-6041-0

Media commentator

Paul Levinson is a frequent guest on local, national, and international cable and network television and public, commercial, and satellite radio programs.

These have included:
* Fox News: "The O'Reilly Factor", "Your World with Neil Cavuto", "The Big Story with John Gibson", "Fox Magazine"; News special, "The New Millennium: Science, Fiction, Fantasy"
* PBS: "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"
* CBS: "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather", "The Early Show"
* ABC: "Nightline", "World News Now"
* MSNBC: "Jesse Ventura's America", "Scarborough Country"
* CNN: "American Morning", "Daybreak", "Sunday Live"
* CNBC: "Bullseye," "Squawk Box", "On the Money"
* The History Channel: "Modern Marvels", "Fantastic Voyage: The Evolution of Science Fiction"
* Discovery Channel: "The Inside Story of...", "The Cell Phone Revolution"
* BBC: "NewsNight" (TV); "Thinking Allowed" (radio)
* CBC: "Canada Now" (TV); "Newsworld International" (TV); Special, "McLuhan: Out of Orbit" (TV); "Cross Country Checkup" (radio); "CBC This Morning" (radio)
* NPR: "All Things Considered"; "Talk of the Nation"; "Morning Edition"; "The Diane Rehm Show"; "On the Media"; "The Connection"; "On Point"; "Public Interest with Kojo Nnamdi"; "Tech Nation with Moira Gunn"; "New York & Company"; Chicago Public Radio's "Sound Opinions" and "Odyssey"; Wisconsin Public Radio; Minnesota Public Radio
* satellite radio: Sirius
* other radio and TV: Los Angeles CBS radio KNX-AM; New York CBS radio WCBS-AM and WFAN; Bloomberg radio; AP radio; Detroit's WJR-AM Mitch Albom Show; CNN radio; Voice of America (radio & TV); "C-Span"; "Reuters TV"; "Wall Street Journal" Radio; WABC-TV; "Today in New York", WNBC-TV; WCBS-TV; "Good Day New York", Fox 5; WB-11; UPN-9; "CUNY-TV"; "Inside Edition"

Paul Levinson has been quoted thousands of times in newspapers, magazines, and news services around the world. Some of these are: "USA Today", "The New York Times", "Washington Post", "Christian Science Monitor", "U.S. News and World Report", "Los Angeles Times", "New York Post", "New York Daily News", "Newsday", "Boston Globe", "The Philadelphia Inquirer", "Houston Chronicle", "Hollywood Reporter", "Billboard", "Wired", "Smithsonian Magazine", London "Daily Mail", the Toronto "Globe and Mail", the Associated Press, Reuters, and UPI.

ongwriter, recording artist, and record producer

* Writer of over 100 songs published in 1960s and 70s by major music publishers including Bourne, Chappell, Belwin Mills/Warner Brothers, Bobby Darin's TM Music, and Sunbury/RCA
* Recordings of his songs were produced by Ellie Greenwich, Jimmy "the Wiz" Wisner, and Paul Leka for other artists
* Songs he wrote, performed and/or produced were released on record labels including Columbia, Decca, Philips, Atlantic, Buddah and London Records
*Twice Upon a Rhyme, 1972 LP released on HappySad Records, as principal artist, writer, and producer
* Levinson's song "Hung Up On Love" (co-writer Mikie Harris, produced by Ellie Greenwich and Mike Rashkow) was recorded by Levinson's trio The Other Voices and released on Atlantic Records in 1968; this recording was included in Rhino Handmade's 2004 compilation CD "", compiled by Andrew Sandoval. Levinson sang falsetto harmony on many of The Other Voices' recordings.

References

External links

* [http://paullevinson.info homepage]
** [http://paullevinson.info/levbib1.htm#articles "Articles and Columns"]
** [http://paullevinson.info/levbib1.htm#sf "Short Fiction"]
** [http://paullevinson.info/index.html#tuar "Music career"] ; [http://paullevinson.info/samples.html MP3s]
** [http://paullevinson.info/levbib1.htm Awards and honors]
* [http://InfiniteRegress.tv personal blog]
* [http://myspace.com/twiceuponarhyme writing] and [http://myspace.com/paullevinsonthenewoutlook music pages]
* [http://paulpodcastjuke.blogspot.com/ podcasts]
** [http://lightonlightthrough.com "Light On Light Through"]
** [http://levinsonnews.podshow.com/ "Levinson News Clips"]
** [http://10minutelessons.com/index.html?Expert=17&Reload=1/ "Ask Lev!"]
** [http://studio.odeo.com/channel/173683/ "Words and Music by Paul Levinson"]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=aqZNGYit3kY&feature=user In-depth video interview on new/old media with Paul Levinson on The Alcove with Mark Molaro]

*isfdb name|id=Paul%20Levinson|name=Paul Levinson
* [http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/paul_levinson/ quotes]