Articles by George Johnson

Recent articles and reviews by George Johnson

Listed by topic, January 2000 to present. (Please click here for a full chronology dating back to 1987.)

There is also an RSS feed of my New York Times articles.

Archaeology and anthropology
Book reviews
Brain, mind, and consciousness
Conspiracy theories
Cosmology, physics, and mathematics
The Internet
9/11/2001
Science and religion
Technology and science

Archaeology and anthropology

Den of Antiquities (a review of "Finders Keepers: A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession" by Craig Childs) New York Times Book Review, August 26, 2010.
Scientist Tries to Connect Migration Dots of Ancient Southwest New York Times, June 30, 2009.
Vanished: A Pueblo Mystery Science Times cover story, April 8, 2008.
A Question of Blame When Societies Fall Science Times cover story, December 25, 2007.

Book reviews

Far Out (a review of "Cosmic Imagery: Key Images in the History of Science" by John D. Barrow) New York Times Book Review, December 5, 2008.
Einstein's Mistakes (a review of a book by Hans C. Ohanian) Los Angeles Times Book Review, October 12, 2008.
The Theory That Ate the World New York Times Book Review, August 24, 2008.
Playing the Odds (a review of Leonard Mlodinow's "The Drunkard's Walk") New York Times Book Review, June 8, 2008.
So You Want to Be a Nobelist (a review of James Watson's "Avoid Boring People") New York Times Book Review, November 25, 2007.
"Einstein" (a review of two new biographies by Jürgen Neffe and Walter Isaacson), Los Angeles Times Book Review, April 22, 2007.
A New Journey into Hofstadter's Mind (a review of "I Am a Strange Loop," by Douglas Hofstadter), Scientific American, March 2007.
Dancing With the Stars (a review of "The Scientist as Rebel" by Freeman Dyson), New York Times Book Review, January 7, 2007.
Endless Universe (a review of a book by Paul J. Steinhardt and Neil Turok), Los Angeles Times Book Review, August 5, 2007.
Meta Physicists (a review of "Faust in Copenhagen" by Gino Segre), New York Times Book Review, June 24, 2007.
The Inelegant Universe (a review of "Not Even Wrong" and "The Trouble With Physics"), Scientific American, September 2006.
Favored by the Gods (a review of three books on the science and history of happiness), Scientific American, June 2006.
Enigmatic (a review of "The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer," by David Leavitt. New York Times Book Review, December 18, 2005.
Star Wars: Episodes 1 and 2 (a review of "Empire of the Stars" by Arthur I. Miller and "Conflict in the Cosmos" by Simon Mitton), New York Times Book Review, June 5, 2005.
A Customer Base of One (a review of "Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop," by Neil Gershenfeld), Scientific American, June 2005.
Revelations from Feynman's Pen (a review of "Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: The Letters of Richard P. Feynman"), Los Angeles Times Book Review, May 22, 2005.
A Really Long History of Time New York Times Book Review, February 27, 2005.
'Faster Than the Speed of Light': E = mc²(Except When It Doesn't) New York Times Book Review, February 10, 2003.
"A New Kind of Science" Review of the book by Stephen Wolfram. New York Times Book Review. June 9, 2002.

Brain, mind, and consciousness

Alex Wanted a Cracker, but Did He Want One? Week in Review cover story, September 16, 2007.
Sleights of Mind Science Times cover story, August 21, 2007.
God Is in the Dendrites Slate, April 26, 2007.
How Memories Are Made Time Magazine. June 12, 2000.
Terra Incognita New York Times Magazine. October 22, 1999.

9/11

Double Bind Week in Review cover story. November 11, 2001.
Order of Magnitude The Week in Review. September 16, 2001.

Science and religion

Vatican's Celestial Eye, Seeking Not Angels but Data New York Times, June 23, 2009.
A Free-for-All on Science and Religion Science Times cover story, November 21, 2006.
Scientists on Religion (a review of books by Owen Gingerich, Francis Collins, Richard Dawkins, and Carl Sagan), Scientific American, October 2006.
Worlds Apart: The Dalai Lama Comes to Washington Tricycle, Spring 2006 (pdf download).
Testing Faith; Science and Religion, Still Worlds Apart Week in Review, April 9, 2006.
War of the Worlds Science & Spirit, January 2006.
Getting a Rational Grip on Religion (a review of "Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon," by Daniel C. Dennett), Scientific American, January 2006.
For the Anti-Evolutionists, Hope in High Places Week in Review, October 2, 2005.
God, Science, and a Standoff in Cambridge Science Times essay, September 27, 2005.
'The Universe in a Single Atom': Reason and Faith New York Times Book Review, September 18, 2005.
Worshipping in the Church of Einstein (or How I Found Fischbeck's Rule), published in the anthology Secrets of Angels and Demons, edited by Dan Burstein and Arne de Keijzer, December 2004.
Can Science Prove the Existence of God? Science Times 25th Anniversary Issue, November 11, 2003.
Contrarian's Contrarian: Galileo's Science Polemics Science Times, August 12, 2003.

Technology and science

On Top of Microwave Mountain Slate, April 21, 2010.
Plugging Into the Sun National Geographic, September 2009.
Eureka! Where Do I Cash the Check? Week in Review, June 29, 2008.
Bright Scientists, Dim Notions Week in Review, October 28, 2007.
Who Do You Trust More: G.I. Joe or A.I. Joe? Week in Review, February 20, 2005.
With Sheet Metal Cutouts, the Tree of Life Emerged, and Spot the Double Helix New York Times special section on the 50th anniversary of DNA, February 25, 2003.
Loss of the Shuttle: The Real Science Happens Down Here on Earth Week in Review, February 10, 2003.
Oil and Water: Why Prizes and Science Don't Mix Week in Review. October 13, 2002.
To Err Is Human Week in Review cover story. July 14, 2002.
At Los Alamos, Two Visions of Supercomputing Science Times cover story. June 25, 2002.
Surprise! Elections Have Margins of Error, Too Week in Review. November 19, 2000.
A Small Step for Man, a Giant Leap of Faith Week in Review cover story. February 20, 2000.