Stephen J. Dubner

Stephen Joseph Dubner (born August 26, 1963) is an American author, journalist, and podcast and radio host. He is co-author of the popular ''Freakonomics'' book series: ''Freakonomics'',Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (2005) ''SuperFreakonomics'', ''Think Like a Freak'' and '' When to Rob a Bank''. He is the host of ''Freakonomics Radio''.

Early life and education

Born in 1963 in Duanesburg, New York, to Solomon Dubner (also known as Paul) and Florence Greenglass (also known as Florence Winters and Veronica Dubner), Dubner grew up as the youngest of eight children. His father, who died in 1973 when Dubner was 10 years old, worked as a copy editor at '' The Record'' in Troy, New York. Dubner grew up in a devout Roman Catholic household, his parents having converted from Judaism to Catholicism before his birth. As an adult, Dubner himself converted back to Judaism, an experience he chronicles in his first book, ''Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return to His Jewish Family''.

In 1984, Dubner graduated from Appalachian State University in North Carolina, where he studied in the College of Fine and Applied Arts. There, Dubner played in a rock band, ''The Right Profile'', which later signed with Arista Records shortly before he decided against a career in music. In 1990, Dubner earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in writing from Columbia University, where he also taught English.

Career

Dubner's first published work appeared in ''Highlights for Children'', when he was 11 years old. Since then, his journalism has been published in ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and ''Time'', and has been anthologized in ''The Best American Sports Writing'', ''The Best American Crime Writing'', and elsewhere.

In 1998, Dubner wrote his first full-length book, ''Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return to His Jewish Family'', for which he was named a finalist for the Koret Jewish Book Award.Republished as ''Choosing My Religion: A Memoir of a Family Beyond Belief'' (2006) Dubner has since written ''Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper'',Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper (2003) and a children's book, ''The Boy With Two Belly Buttons''.The Boy With Two Belly Buttons (2007)

Books

Dubner met Steven Levitt, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, when his editor asked him to write a profile on Levitt for ''The'' ''New York Times Magazine''. At the time, Dubner was writing a book on the psychology of money and didn't have much interest in meeting the young economist from Chicago. Likewise, Levitt had little interest in the profile, but agreed to a two-hour interview because his mom liked ''The New York Times Magazine''. Upon meeting Levitt, Dubner extended the two-hour interview to three days.

After publication of Dubner’s 2003 ''Times Magazine'' article, Dubner and Levitt were asked to co-write a book, which cemented their partnership. In 2005, William Morrow and Company published ''Freakonomics'', a book about cheating teachers, bizarre baby-names, self-dealing realtors, and crack-selling mama's boys. ''Freakonomics'' would go on to be translated into 40 languages and sell 5 million copies worldwide.

Dubner and Levitt have co-authored three other books: ''SuperFreakonomics'',SuperFreakonomics (2009) ''Think Like a Freak'',''Think Like a Freak: The Authors of'' Freakonomics ''Offer to Retrain Your Brain'' (2014) and '' When to Rob a Bank''.When to Rob a Bank (2015) Throughout their work, Dubner and Levitt use economics to explore real-world phenomena, answer perplexing questions, and offer unconventional analysis.

Dubner has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book ''Tools of Titans''.

Radio

In 2010, Dubner launched a weekly podcast, ''Freakonomics Radio'', which was getting 15 million global monthly downloads as of 2018. On March 5, 2020, Dubner appeared on the ''Joe Rogan Experience'' podcast.

Dubner also hosts ''Freakonomics Radio Live!'' (formerly '' Tell Me Something I Don’t Know)'', a game-show version of the podcast in which contestants share incredible, little-known facts in front of a live audience.

Other shows include:

* '' Tell Me Something I Don't Know'' is a game-show podcast that Dubner created in partnership with ''The New York Times'' in 2016 and that is now part of ''Freakonomics Radio''
* ''Footy for Two''

Awards and honors

* Finalist for the Koret Jewish Book Award, for ''Turbulent Souls''
* Quill Award, for ''Freakonomics''
* Short-listed for Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award

Personal life

Dubner currently resides in New York City with his wife, documentary photographer Ellen Binder, their two children, and their dog. In a 2017 ''New York Times'' profile, Dubner described his ideal Sunday as one in which he walks his dog in Central Park early in the morning, watches an FC Barcelona game with his son, and spends the afternoon cooking dinner with his daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubner, Stephen J.
1963 births
American male bloggers
American bloggers
American podcasters
American economics writers
American male journalists
21st-century American memoirists
Appalachian State University alumni
Columbia University School of the Arts alumni
Converts to Judaism from Roman Catholicism
People from Duanesburg, New York
Jewish American writers
Living people
21st-century American Jews