James Surowiecki

James Surowiecki

James Michael Surowiecki (pron.: /ˌsʊəroʊˈwɪkiː/ SOOR-oh-WIK-ee; born 1967) is an American journalist. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he writes a regular column on business and finance called "The Financial Page".

Background

Surowiecki was born in Meriden, Connecticut and spent several childhood years in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico where he received a junior high school education from Southwestern Educational Society (SESO). On May 5, 1979, he won the Scripps-Howard Regional Puerto Rico Spelling Bee championship. He is a 1984 graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall and a 1988 alumnus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar. Surowiecki pursued Ph.D. studies in American History on a Mellon Fellowship at Yale University before becoming a financial journalist. He lives in Brooklyn, New York and is married to Slate culture editor Meghan O'Rourke.

Career

Surowiecki's writing has appeared in a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Motley Fool, Foreign Affairs, Artforum, Wired, and Slate.

Before joining The New Yorker, he wrote “The Bottom Line” column for New York magazine and was a contributing editor at Fortune.

He got his start on the Internet when he was hired from graduate school by Motley Fool co-founder David Gardner, to be the Fool's editor-in-chief of its culture site on America Online, entitled "Rogue" (1995–1996). As The Motley Fool closed that site down and focused on finance, Surowiecki made the switch over to become a finance writer, which he did over the succeeding three years, including being assigned to write the Fool's column on Slate from 1997–2000.

In 2002, Surowiecki edited an anthology, Best Business Crime Writing of the Year, a collection of articles from different business news sources that chronicle the fall from grace of various CEOs. In 2004, he published The Wisdom of Crowds, in which he argued that in some circumstances, large groups exhibit more intelligence than smaller, more elite groups, and that collective intelligence shapes business, economies, societies and nations.

Bibliography

Articles

• Surowiecki, James (3 November 2008). "The Financial Page: Greasing the Slide". The New Yorker 84 (35): 50. Retrieved 27 March 2009. 
• Surowiecki, James (24 November 2008). "The Financial Page: The Perils of Efficiency". The New Yorker 84 (38): 46. Retrieved 16 April 2009. 
• Surowiecki, James (8 December 2008). "The Financial Page: Enter, Pursued by a Bear". The New Yorker 84 (40): 40. Retrieved 22 May 2009. 
• Surowiecki, James (12 January 2009). "The Financial Page: Cheat, Pray, Love". The New Yorker 84 (44): 21. Retrieved 27 March 2009. 
• Surowiecki, James (28 September 2009). "The Financial Page: Ratings Downgrade". The New Yorker 85 (30): 25. Retrieved 27 March 2009. 
• Surowiecki, James (15 March 2010). "The Financial Page: Special Interest". The New Yorker 86 (4): 25. Retrieved 15 January 2011. 
• Surowiecki, James (20 September 2010). "The Financial Page: Second Helpings". The New Yorker 86 (28): 52. Retrieved 22 December 2011. 
• Surowiecki, James (8 November 2010). "The Financial Page: Back-Office Blues". The New Yorker 86 (35): 32. Retrieved 25 November 2011. 

References

• Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2004. PEN (Permanent Entry Number): 0000156165.
• The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations Little, Brown ISBN 0-316-86173-1
• Best Business Crime Writing of the Year (Editor) Anchor ISBN 1-4000-3371-3

External links

• Better and Better: The Myth of Inevitable Progress James Surowiecki's review of the book "The Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier, More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet" by Indur M. Goklany in the magazine Foreign Affairs
• James Surowieki (sic) – Independent Individuals and Wise Crowds Audio interview from IT Conversations
• James Surowiecki – The Wisdom of Crowds Audio interview from NPR affiliate WAMU American University – Mr. Surowiecki explains how collective wisdom shapes business, economies, societies, and nations. (60 min. RealAudio stream).
• Meghan O'Rourke, James Surowiecki – New York Times Weddings/Celebrations
• Power: 2012 Conference Video
• TEDTalks James Surowiecki: The moment when social media became the news