The archived blog posts of author Alec Nevala-Lee
I m very pleased to announce the upcoming publication of my new book, Collisions: A Physicist’s Journey from Hiroshima to the Death of the Dinosaurs, which will be released by W. W. Norton on June 10. It’s a biography of Luis W. Alvarez, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, witnessed the bombing [ ]
In the ancient days there went three men upon pilgrimage; one was a priest, and one was a virtuous person, and the third was an old rover with his axe At last one came running, and told them all was lost: that the powers of darkness had besieged the Heavenly Mansions, that Odin was to die, [ ]
People always tell you you ll get over things (and they re right) but what do you do while you re getting over it? The old joke: your wife is buried, you weep on her grave, your friends tell you in a year you ll forget it, you ll go out, meet someone else, get married again. But what ll I [ ]
How much of the appeal of mountaineering lies in its simplification of interpersonal relationships, its reduction of friendship to smooth interaction (like war), its substitution of an Other (the mountain, the challenge) for the relationship itself? Behind a mystique of adventure, toughness, footloose vagabondage—all much needed antidotes to our culture s built-in comfort and convenience—may lie […
I m very excited to announce that I ll be giving a two-part online talk on the life and work of Buckminster Fuller in partnership with the 92nd Street Y on May 13 and 20. It s hosted through Roundtable, their virtual education platform, so anyone can attend. I expect that it will be the most comprehensive talk [ ]
It s hard to believe, but the paperback edition of Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller is finally in stores today. As far as I m concerned, this is the definitive version of this biography—it incorporates a number of small fixes and revisions—and it marks the culmination of a journey that started more [ ]
By any measure, I had a pretty productive year as a writer. My book Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller was released after more than three years of work, and the reception so far has been very encouraging—it was named a New York Times Book Review Editors Choice, an Economist best [ ]
After three years of work—and more than a few twists and turns—my latest book, Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller, is finally here. I think it’s the best thing that I’ve ever done, or at least the one book that I’m proudest to have written. After last week s writeup in The [ ]
Two months ago, I was browsing Reddit when I stumbled across a post that said: TIL that the current American Flag design originated as a school project from Robert G Heft, who received a B- for lack of originality, yet was promised an A if he successfully got it selected as the national flag. The [ ]
I realize that I m well overdue for an update on my new book, Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller, which is scheduled to be published by Dey Street Books / HarperCollins on August 2. Yesterday, I delivered my revisions to the copy edit, so I ve essentially reached the end of a [ ]