Robert Wright (journalist)

Infobox journalist
name = Robert Wright


birth_date = 1957
birth_place = Lawton, Oklahoma
age =
education = Princeton University
occupation =
alias = Bob Wright
title =
spouse = Lisa Wright
religion = Agnostic
credits = author of "The Moral Animal" and ""; editor for "Time", "Slate", "The New Republic", "The Wilson Quarterly"; has written for "The Atlantic Monthly", "The New Yorker", and "The New York Times Magazine"; runs websites BloggingHeads.tv and [http://meaningoflife.tv/ MeaningOfLife.tv]
URL =

Robert Wright (born 1957 in Lawton, Oklahoma) is an American journalist, scholar, and prize-winning author of best-selling books about science, evolutionary psychology, history, religion, and game theory, including "", "The Moral Animal", and "Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information". He is a visiting scholar at The University of Pennsylvania and Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation.

Early years

Wright is a self-described "Army brat," born to a Southern Baptist family in Lawton, Oklahoma in and raised in (among other places) San Francisco. Wright attended Texas Christian University for a year before transferring to Princeton University, later graduating with an interdisciplinary degree in public and international affairs. His professors at college included author John McPhee, whose style clearly influenced Wright's first book.

Journalism career

Wright served as a Senior Editor at "The Sciences" and later at "The New Republic", and as an editor at "The Wilson Quarterly". He has been a contributing editor at "The New Republic" (where he also co-authored the "TRB" column), "Time" and "Slate", and has written for "The Atlantic Monthly", "The New Yorker", and "The New York Times Magazine". He contributes frequently to "The New York Times", including a stint as guest columnist for the month of April, 2007.

"Bloggingheads" and other online ventures

On November 1, 2005, Wright and blogger Mickey Kaus launched Bloggingheads.tv, a current-events diavlog. Bloggingheads diavlogs are conducted via webcam, and can be viewed online or downloaded as MP3 sound files. New diavlogs are posted approximately 5-10 times a week and are archived. While many diavlogs feature Wright and Kaus, other regular participants at Bloggingheads.tv include Rosa Brooks, Conn Carroll, Jonathan Chait, Joshua Cohen, David Corn, Ross Douthat, Daniel Drezner, Garance Franke-Ruta, John Horgan, Heather Hurlburt, George Johnson, Mark Kleiman, Ezra Klein, Jeffrey Lewis, Glenn Loury, Megan McArdle, John McWhorter, James Pinkerton, Jacqueline Shire, Mark Schmitt, Will Wilkinson and Matthew Yglesias. They represent diverse political viewpoints, and Wright and Kaus differ politically as well.

Wright has also used bloggingheads.tv to conduct interviews with, among others, the political scientist Francis Fukuyama about his book "America at the Crossroads"; the Israeli journalist Gershom Gorenberg on his book "The Accidental Empire" (about the history of the settlements); the weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis; the "Washington Post" columnist Joel Achenbach on an article of his about global-warming skeptics; and Andrew Sullivan on his book "The Conservative Soul".

Wright has also ventured into video-on-Internet with his [http://www.meaningoflife.tv MeaningofLife.tv] website, in which he interviews a number of scholars, theologians, scientists and cosmic thinkers about their ideas and opinions regarding religion and spirituality.

Books

* "Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information". HarperCollins, 1989. ISBN 0-06-097257-2
* "The Moral Animal: Why We Are the Way We Are: The New Science of Evolutionary Psychology". Vintage, 1994. ISBN 0-679-76399-6
* "Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny". Vintage, 2001. ISBN 0-679-75894-1

His next book, titled "The Evolution of God", is expected to be published by Little, Brown in 2008. [ [http://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com/library/lb_domestic_0506.pdf Little, Brown & Co., Subsidiary Rights List, Trade Adult Titles] , Fall 2006]

Awards

"The New York Times Book Review" chose Wright's "The Moral Animal" as one of the 12 best books of 1994; it was a national bestseller and has been published in 12 languages. "" was a "The New York Times Book Review" Notable Book in the year 2000 and has been published in nine languages. "Fortune" Magazine included "Nonzero" on a list of "the 75 smartest [business-related] books of all time." Wright's first book, "Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information," was published in 1988 and was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award. Wright's column "The Information Age," written for "The Sciences" magazine, won the National Magazine Award for Essay and Criticism.

Personal life

Wright lives in Princeton with his wife Lisa and their two daughters. [ [http://www.pbs.org/thinktank/transcript814.html Does History Have a Purpose?] April 1, 2000]

References

External links

* [http://nonzero.org Nonzero.org] - A website for Wright's book Nonzero
* [http://www.meaningoflife.tv MeaningOfLife.tv] - Wright's website recording his interviews of noted scientists including Daniel Dennett, John Maynard Smith, Steven Pinker, John Polkinghorne, and Francis Fukuyama
* [http://www.slate.com Slate Magazine] - Wright was a Slate contributor and many of his articles are available here via a search for his name
* [http://www.wie.org/j26/globalization.asp?ifr=rm The Globalization of Morality] - An interview with Wright from "What Is Enlightenment? Magazine"
* [http://www.radicalmiddle.com/x_wright.htm Ambling Toward a Win-Win World?] - A review of Nonzero from "Radical Middle Newsletter"
* [http://bloggingheads.tv/ BloggingHeads.tv] - Video blog site founded by Wright in which he sometimes diavlogs with others. (usually Mickey Kaus)
* [http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2000/03/03/3/a-conversation-with-about-evolution Charlie Rose] - Charlie Rose interviews Robert Wright on non-zero-sum games, 3/3/2000.
* [http://www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=r_wright TEDTalks] - Wright's speech for the TED Conference 2006