{"id":4754,"date":"2021-07-05T07:55:31","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T07:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/cromercrox\/?page_id=4754"},"modified":"2025-06-06T13:01:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T13:01:04","slug":"about-henry-gee","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/cromercrox\/about-henry-gee\/","title":{"rendered":"About Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was born under a wandering star<\/del> in a trunk in the Princess Theater in Pocatello, Idaho<\/del> in the Victoria Maternity Hospital in Barnet, London in 1962. I attended various schools including Whitgift School in Croydon (1972-74), where future author Neil Gaiman just missed me; followed by Sevenoaks School in Kent and finally Michael Hall School<\/a> in Sussex (1976-1981) where I joined the same class as the future composer Paul Carr<\/a>, cellist Nathalie Jacquet<\/a>, and, as it happened, Neil Gaiman’s sister, and sandwiched between fashion designer Bella<\/a> (class above) and novelist Esther Freud<\/a>. Must have been something in the air.<\/p>\n

I then went on to study Zoology & Genetics at the University of Leeds (1981-1984), which I represented on University Challenge<\/em>, reaching the quarter finals in 1983. During this time I did a stint as a trainee researcher in the Department of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum in London, an episode that was to feature heavily in my later book Deep Time<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I moved to Cambridge where I read for a PhD in Zoology (1984-1987), although it was really only music that kept me going. I played in quite a few outfits but the crowning pinnacle has to be playing the piano in a jazz band at Clare College May Ball on the same bill as Stan Tracey, accompanying jazz singer Sonita Alleyne<\/a> … later OBE for services to broadcasting and now Master of Jesus College, Cambridge (definitely something in the air).<\/p>\n

In 1987, before completing my doctorate, I joined the editorial staff of the leading science journal Nature<\/em><\/a> on a three-month contract. It\u2019s the longest three-month contract anyone has ever had. In the meantime I continued my doctorate research and was awarded a PhD in 1991.<\/p>\n

Starting out as a science writer with a Nature<\/em>-branded column in The Times<\/em><\/a>, I moved to the \u2018back half\u2019, the team of skilled editors that selects the most important science sent to Nature<\/em> from around the world. Specializing in palaeontology \u2013 the study of the deep past \u2013 the first known feathered dinosaurs<\/a>, the bizarre \u2018fishapod\u2019 Tiktaalik<\/em><\/a>, and the strange hobbit Homo floresiensis<\/em><\/a> were all published under my stewardship.<\/p>\n

In the meantime I kept on writing, with appearances in outlets such as the Huffington Post<\/em><\/a>, Discover<\/em><\/a>, The Literary Review<\/em><\/a>, The Guardian<\/em><\/a>, Scientific American<\/em><\/a>, Nature<\/em> Online<\/a>, The London Review of Books<\/em><\/a>, BBC Wildlife<\/em>, BBC Focus<\/em>, The Times<\/em>, Le Monde<\/em>, El Pais<\/em> and many other newspapers and magazines.<\/p>\n

I am the author of many books<\/a> including A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth<\/em><\/a> (winner of the Royal Society Science Book Award in 2022<\/a>); The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire <\/em>(look for updates at the book’s website here)<\/a>\u00a0The Accidental Species: Misunderstandings of Human Evolution<\/em><\/a>, Jacob\u2019s Ladder: The History of the Human Genome<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 and In Search of Deep Time<\/em><\/a>. A noted bore<\/del> authority on the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, I am the author of The Science of Middle-earth<\/em><\/a>, and am a former editor of Mallorn<\/em>, the journal of the Tolkien Society. Under my stewardship, Mallorn<\/em> won SFX<\/em> magazine’s accolade of ‘Fanzine of the Month’ – twice.<\/p>\n

My next book is The Wonder of Life on Earth<\/em><\/a>. Look for updates on the book’s website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With a keen interest in science fiction, I founded the Futures<\/em><\/a> science-fiction column in Nature<\/em>. This garnered an award for Best Publisher from the European Society of Science Fiction (SESF) in 2005. I was Guest of Honour at ConStitution in Cambridge in 2009; and was George Hay Lecturer at the meeting of the British Science Fiction Society<\/a> (EasterCon) in 2013. I have published several SF stories (collected as Hunting Unicorns and Other Stories<\/em><\/a>); an SF trilogy The Sigil; <\/em><\/a>and a SF-gothick detective story, By The Sea<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can find everything you need to know about my books on my Amazon<\/a> and Goodreads <\/a>pages. I have spoken at many festivals and events and am a regular visitor to podcasts<\/a>, radio (NPR’s All Things Considered<\/em>, various BBC programmes such as In Our Time<\/em><\/a>) and TV.<\/p>\n

I gave the second Raymond Dart Memorial Lecture at Griffith University, Brisbane<\/a> on The Unknown — <\/em>a lecture I’ve delivered across the world from the Natural History Museum in Shanghai, to the Australian Museum in Sydney,\u00a0 the Bergamo Science Festival in Bergamo, Italy<\/a>, and at the Institute of Art and Ideas<\/a>, among many other places (and which you can hear on this podcast<\/a>). I’ve spoken at the American Museum of Natural History, NY, and at the Hay Literary Festival<\/a>, on Deep Time<\/em>; was on several panel discussions and stand-alone events at the How The Light Gets In<\/em> Festival<\/a> in 2020; and I have appeared as a pundit<\/a> on Nature<\/em>‘s own video channel.<\/p>\n

In 1996 I served as Regents Professor of the University of California, giving a graduate seminar at UCLA on science publication, entitled Publish or Perish<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most inexplicably<\/del> memorably I was invited to compete in a special alumni competition of University Challenge in 2019 — thirty-six years after my first appearance — once again representing the University of Leeds, alongside East-Asia specialist and author Jonathan Clements;<\/a> award-winning photographer Tim Allen; <\/a>and popstar-turned-churchman and broadcaster the Rev Richard Coles<\/a>. The team appeared<\/a> three<\/a> times <\/a>and went on to win the championship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can find me online on Bluesky<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I live in Cromer, Norfolk, England, with my family and numerous pets. One of my pets ran away to join the Fire Brigade<\/a>; another has recently published a volume of autobiography<\/a>. My recreations include supporting Norwich City FC, making music<\/a>, and falling asleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was born under a wandering star in a trunk in the Princess Theater in Pocatello, Idaho in the Victoria Maternity Hospital in Barnet, London in 1962. I attended various schools including Whitgift School in Croydon (1972-74), where future author … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4754","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/cromercrox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/cromercrox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/cromercrox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/cromercrox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/cromercrox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4754"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/cromercrox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6230,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/cromercrox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4754\/revisions\/6230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/cromercrox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}