I'm a journalist and writer, and the author of the 2018 book Rocket Billionaires, about the new space race. I write news articles, profiles, magazine stories, book reviews, and policy analysis, and am glad to give talks on my work or participate in related panels.

My interests include the life of the mind, dangerous technology, the history of cocktails, the Great American Novel, the liberal coalition, California-German aesthetics, hot jams, football (both kinds), the culinary arts, Thelonious Monk, the Middle East, utopian macroeconomics, the politics of institutions, and New Hampshire, among diverse topics.

I live in Oakland, California with my wife Renée, my son Oscar and my dog Miso.

Formerly, I was a senior reporter at Quartz, the global business news site, for more than a decade. I was also a founding editor of Tomorrow, the magazine about what's best in life, and the business editor at GOOD Magazine. Before that, I was an economic correspondent at the National Journal, where I focused on tax and budget issues. I've also been a reporter and blogger at the American Prospect magazine and a research fellow at the New America Foundation.

My work has also appeared in the American Lawyer, the Atlantic, the Daily Beast, Fast Company, GOOD, The Guardian, The Nation, the New Republic, the New York Times, Newsweek, Pacific Standard, Reuters, Vox, the Washington City Paper and the Wilson Quarterly.

In 2015 and 2016, I co-produced and hosted the podcast Actuality. I've discussed my work on radio and television programs and in documentaries produced by NPR, the BBC, the CBC, CBS, CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera, MSNBC, PRI and PBS.

I have degrees in Government, Theology and Arabic from Georgetown University, where I was editor-in-chief of the great Georgetown Voice.