Sam Kean

Sam Kean is an American writer. He has written for The New York Times Magazine, Mental Floss, Slate, Psychology Today, and The New Scientist. He has also published six books which discuss scientific discoveries in a narrative style. His books received positive reviews in The Wall Street Journal Library Journal, and The New York Times. He was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and lives in Washington, D.C.

Life and career Sam Kean was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He studied Physics and English Literature at the University of Minnesota and later earned a master's degree in Library Science from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Books The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements (2010)

The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons: the History of the Human Brain as Revealed by True Stories of Trauma, Madness, and Recovery (2014) Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us (2017) The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb (2019) The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science (2021) Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations (2025) The Museum of Lost Things: True Tales of Fabled Treasures, Legendary Cities, and Mythical Creatures That Vanished From History (2026)