Jon Gertner on the Stories Worth Telling
Dr. Chris Stout
LinkedIn Top Voice | Best Selling Author | Adventurer | Startup Whisperer | (Accidental) Humanitarian | APA's "Rockstar" Psychologist | éminence Grise
How do we make sense of the ideas of the present, that might determine our lives in the future? How can we weigh the legitimacy of new technologies--and sort through what is hype, and what is not?
Well, that’s what Jon Gertner, a veteran journalist, editor, historian, and author, seems to have figured out. Jon is a contributing writer at?The New York Times Magazine, and is best known for his work on science, technology, innovation, business, and society.
His journalism and reviews also appear in Wired, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and a number of other print and digital publications. Jon served as an editor for?Fast Company,?Money?and?The American Lawyer.?Jon is a graduate of Cornell University and is on the faculty of Princeton where he teaches the McGraw Seminar on writing.
His first book,?The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation, was a?New York Times?bestseller. His latest book is?The Ice at the End of the World: An Epic Journey into Greenland’s Buried Past and Our Perilous Future. We’ll be doing a deep dive on both of his books, as well as his approach to writing and journalism.
Jon’s magazine and newspaper writing is generally focused on contemporary issues in science
We start with Jon’s first book,?The Idea Factory. Here is what others have said about it:
Walter Isaacson,?in The New York Times Book Review said “Filled with colorful characters and inspiring lessons . . .?The Idea Factory?explores one of the most critical issues of our time: What causes innovation?â€
The New York Times - “Riveting . . . Mr. Gertner’s portraits of Kelly and the cadre of talented scientists who worked at Bell Labs are animated by a journalistic ability to make their discoveries and inventions utterly comprehensible—indeed, thrilling—to the lay reader. And they showcase, too, his novelistic sense of character and intuitive understanding of the odd ways in which clashing or compatible personalities can combine to foster intensely creative collaborations.â€
It chronicles the exploits of a generation of scientists working at, arguably, what was the 20th Century’s greatest laboratory, and explores the methods and importance of technological innovation
We cover the proverbial waterfront of Bell Labs serving as the country’s “intellectual utopia,†transistors, communication satellites, lasers and laser theory, and the approach of AT&T being a kinder and gentler “Ma Bell.†We also discussed the differences in “big and slow†versus “quick and nimble†and aspects as to why Bell Labs was so successful, along with some of the colorful and brilliant folks working there and their eccentricities – including Kelly, Shockley, Pierce, Shannon, and Nobel Prize winner Phil Anderson, as just a small sample. Jon also gave his thoughts on the role of competition
Next, we shifted in to discussing his recent book, The Ice at the End of the World.
It was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Library Journal, The Financial Times, and The Christian Science Monitor.
The New York Times Book Review said “Fascinating and encyclopedic . . . with prose so lucid it’s easy to overlook its elegance . . . Gertner manages a magic trick, transforming his hybrid book from one of physical, to intellectual adventure.â€
Science said “A must-read for those who are curious about the history of exploration and the pursuit of science.â€
Jon said of it that “One of my hopes is that this book helps readers experience at least some of what I encountered—the grace and wonder, and the increasing fragility, of the far frozen north.â€
He details 150 years of exploration and investigation on the Greenland ice sheet. In many respects a story about the process of scientific discovery
In doing his research, he slept by calving glaciers, drank from meltwater streams, joined with NASA teams measuring the ice sheet, and cruised through iceberg-strewn waters in the strange light of Arctic midnight, and he shares what that was like.
I know that Jon enjoys getting out into the field as much as he can in doing his work. In researching Bell Labs, the “field†was corporate archives and traveling all over the country to do hundreds of hours of interviews with the scientists and engineers who worked at the laboratory. But for Greenland book, Jon traveled to the island six times, interviewed scientists in Europe and around the United States, again compiling hundreds of hours of interviews.
We get into how Jon became interested in Greenland and what “it†is, and why it’s so important. We go into explorers functioning as scientists, the threats to the ice sheet, independence and increased commercial activities there, such as rare earth mining.
Jon reported that 2019 was like 2012 and that the ice melt—532 billion tons—is the equivalent of covering California with 4 feet of water and the issues and varying opinions involved with climate change. Also, while his narrative brings understanding and history, and he has wonderful photography on his website—which serves as a course in and of itself.
I’m interested in learning about writing process and in gaining a better understanding of the juxtaposition of journalism, history, science, and technology. So I asked Jon to discuss his writing course—the syllabus for his class at Princeton, notes that students will learn how to determine which science, climate, technology, and innovation stories are worth telling, and how to conceptualize, investigate, structure, and write
We unpack how he selects what to write about, what is a-day-in-the-life looks like for him, how he got started with The New York Times Magazine, Wired, The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and his transition to books, what he says “no†to, how his manages the time to do work on an article or book, or both. And we wrap up with how he obtained his agent and what may be his next large project. Be sure to tune in to the podcast to learn what he’s considering.
Jon lives his life in full in such a way to make a profound difference in his readers’ perspectives, knowledge, and understanding of the world.
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