David Owen (author)
Encyclopedia
David Owen is an American
journalist
and author
. He lives in Washington, Connecticut
with his wife, Ann Hodgman
, and their two children, Laura and John.
since 1991 and a contributing editor of Golf Digest
since 1995; previously he was a contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly
and a senior writer for Harper's Magazine
. For six years he was a regular columnist for Home Magazine
. He was also a contributing editor and columnist for Spy.
Owen won an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 1984 to research and write about standardized testing in the American education system.
Many of Owen's books are expansions (or collections) of his previous magazine articles. He writes with wry humor on a curious set of non-fiction topics, including:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
journalist
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. He lives in Washington, Connecticut
Washington, Connecticut
Washington is a rural town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. The population was 3,596 at the 2000 census. Washington is known for its picturesque countryside, historic architecture, and active civic and cultural life...
with his wife, Ann Hodgman
Ann Hodgman
Ann Hodgman is an American author of more than forty children's books as well as several cookbooks and humor books and many magazine articles....
, and their two children, Laura and John.
Career in journalism
Owen has been a staff writer for The New YorkerThe New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
since 1991 and a contributing editor of Golf Digest
Golf Digest
Golf Digest is a monthly golf magazine published by Condé Nast Publications in the United States. It is a generalist golf publication covering recreational golf and men's and women's competitive golf. Condé Nast Publications also publishes the more specialized , and Golf World Business. The...
since 1995; previously he was a contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
and a senior writer for Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
. For six years he was a regular columnist for Home Magazine
Home Magazine
Home Magazine was a magazine published in the United States by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S..Home was founded in 1981 and concluded publication with the October 2008 issue. It appeared ten times a year and had a circulation of one million. Its website, PointClickHome.com, continued updating until...
. He was also a contributing editor and columnist for Spy.
Owen won an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 1984 to research and write about standardized testing in the American education system.
Books
- Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability (Riverhead, 2009) ISBN 9781594488825
Many of Owen's books are expansions (or collections) of his previous magazine articles. He writes with wry humor on a curious set of non-fiction topics, including:
- GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
(“Hit and Hope,” “The Making of the Masters,” “My Usual Game,” and “The Chosen One,” a profile of Tiger WoodsTiger WoodsEldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer whose achievements to date rank him among the most successful golfers of all time. Formerly the World No...
. In addition, he co-edited a collection of golf stories titled “Lure of the Links.”) - Home building materials (“Sheetrock and Shellac,” “The Walls Around Us”)
- Inventors and inventions (“Copies in Seconds,” “The Man Who Invented Saturday Morning”)
- Fatherhood and domestic life (“The First National Bank of Dad,” “Around the House”)
- American education issues (“High School,” about the four months he spent pretending to be a high-school student, and “None of the Above,” an exposé of the standardized-testing industry)
- Sheetrock and Shellac: A Thinking Person's Guide to the Art and Science of Home Improvement (Simon & Schuster, 2006) ISBN 9780743251204 ISBN 0743251202
- Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg—Chester Carlson and the Birth of Xerox (Simon & Schuster, 2004) ISBN 9780743251181 ISBN 0743251180
- Hit and Hope: How the Rest of Us Play Golf (Simon & Schuster, 2003) ISBN 9780743222372 ISBN 0743222377
- The First National Bank of Dad: The Best Way to Teach Kids About Money (pap. subtitle: 'A Foolproof Method for Teaching Your Kids the Value of Money) (Simon & Schuster, 2003) ISBN 9780743204804 ISBN 0743204808
- The Chosen One: Tiger Woods and the Dilemma of Greatness (Simon & Schuster, 2001) ISBN 9780743222341 ISBN 0743222342
- The Complete Office Golf (Workman Publishing,1999) ISBN 9780761115939 ISBN 0761115935
- The Making of the Masters: Clifford Roberts, Augusta National, and Golf's Most Prestigious Tournament (Simon & Schuster, 1999) ISBN 9780684867212 ISBN 0684867214
- (Foreword only) Princeton Review: Cracking the Sat With Sample Tests on CD-ROM, 2000 Edition (Cracking the SAT and PSAT With Sample Tests), by Adam Robinson and John Katzman (Princeton Review, 1999) ISBN 9780375754043 ISBN 0375754040
- Around the House : Reflections on Life Under a Roof (pap. title: Life Under a Leaky Roof) (Villard, 1998) ISBN 9780679456551 ISBN 0679456554
- (As co-editor:) Lure of the Links: Great Golf Stories—an Anthology (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1997) ISBN 9780871136855 ISBN 0871136856
- (Foreword only) College Admissions: the Student Access Guide to College Admissions by Adam Robinson and John Katzman (Princeton Review, 1993) ISBN 9780679745907 ISBN 0679745904
- The Walls Around Us: The Thinking Person's Guide to How a House Works (Villard, 1991) ISBN 9780394578248 ISBN 0394578244
- The Man Who Invented Saturday Morning: And Other Adventures in American Enterprise (Villard, 1988) ISBN 9780394568102 ISBN 0394568109
- None of the Above: Behind the Myth of Scholastic Aptitude (pap. subtitle: The Truth Behind the SATs) (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1985) ISBN 9780395355404 ISBN 0395355400
- High School: Undercover With the Class of '80 (Viking Press, 1981) ISBN 9780670371495 ISBN 0670371491
Articles
- "Books: Turning Tricks--The rise and fall of contract bridge," The New Yorker, September 17, 2007
- "Shouts & Murmurs: Passing," The New Yorker, April 2, 2007
- "Precocity Dept.: Bird" (profile of jazz saxophonist Elijah Shiffer), The New Yorker, July 24, 2006
- "Annals of Culture: The Soundtrack of Your Life--MuzakMuzakMuzak Holdings LLC is a company based in metro Fort Mill, South Carolina, United States, just outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 1934, Muzak Holdings is best known for distribution of background music to retail stores and other companies....
in the realm of retail theatre," The New Yorker, April 10, 2006 - "Pencils Up! The S.A.T.’s Watchdog," The New Yorker, April 3, 2006
- "Shouts & Murmurs: Your Three Wishes--F.A.Q.," The New Yorker, January 16, 2006
- "Hey Pal Dept.: Old Hack" (story about former cab driver and taxi historian Bobby Lowich), The New Yorker, January 26, 2004
- "Our Local Correspondents: Green Manhattan," The New Yorker, October 18, 2004
- "Shouts & Murmurs: 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Ex-Wife," The New Yorker, January 12, 2004
- "Shouts & Murmurs: A Naturalist’s Notes," The New Yorker, August 11, 2003
- "Dept. of Procurement: The Meat Doctor," The New Yorker, June 30, 2003
- "Shouts & Murmurs: RemakeRemakeA remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
" (plot outline for 2003 remake of It's a Wonderful LifeIt's a Wonderful LifeIt's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
), The New Yorker, April 21, 2003 - "NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
, Spinning: Was the space shuttleSpace ShuttleThe Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
useful? Not really." Slate Magazine, posted February 4, 2003 - "Mom and Pop Dept.: The Hundred Club," The New Yorker, December 23, 2002
- "Books: Measure for Measure--How the metric system conquered the world-almost," The New Yorker, October 14, 2002
- "Life and Letters: From Race to Chase--Yale’s Stephen L. Carter writes a thriller," The New Yorker, June 3, 2002
- "Notes & Comment: Children and Money--Training a little investor," The Atlantic Monthly, April 1998
- "Where Toys Come From," The Atlantic Monthly, October 1986,
- "Travel: Innocents Abroad--Making Britain fun for a child can be fun for a parent, too,"" The Atlantic Monthly, November 1996
- "Shouts & Murmurs: The Afterlife--Cutting Back," The New Yorker, January 7, 2008 Cycling the Waterfront Greenway, Manhattan. Reed TimmerReed TimmerReed Timmer is a meteorologist and professional storm chaser who stars in the American documentary reality television series Storm Chasers. He also starred in the documentary film Tornado Glory....