Douglas Preston
Author of Relic
About the Author
Douglas Jerome Preston was born on May 20, 1956 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He received a B.A. in English literature from Pomona College in 1978. His career began at the American Museum of Natural History, where he worked as an editor and writer from 1978 to 1985. He also was a lecturer in English show more at Princeton University. He became a full-time writer of both fiction and nonfiction books in 1986. Many of his fiction works are co-written with Lincoln Child including Relic, Riptide, Thunderhead, The Wheel of Darkness, Cemetery Dance, and Gideon's Corpse. His nonfiction works include Dinosaurs in the Attic; Cities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest in Pursuit of Coronado; Talking to the Ground; and The Royal Road. He has written for numerous magazines including The New Yorker; Natural History; Harper's; Smithsonian; National Geographic; and Travel and Leisure. He became a New York Times Best Selling author with his titles Two Graves and Crimson Shores which he co-wrote with Lincoln Child, and his titles White Fire, The Lost Island Blue Labyrinth and The Lost City of the Monkey God. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Disambiguation Notice:
This author is Douglas Preston. DO NOT COMBINE THIS PAGE WITH ANY JOINT PAGES OF DOUGLAS PRESTON AND LINCOLN CHILD Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are two different people, who have written books collaboratively and separately. Their author pages should not be combined with each other, or with any of the variants using both their names. Please see "Who Should/Shouldn't Get combined" on the Author wiki page. Thank you.
Image credit: Uncredited photo at literati.net
Series
Works by Douglas Preston
Dinosaurs in the Attic: An Excursion into the American Museum of Natural History (1986) 303 copies, 10 reviews
The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder (2023) 156 copies, 9 reviews
The Lost City of the Monkey God--EXTENDED FREE PREVIEW (first 6 chapters): A True Story (2016) 37 copies, 2 reviews
The Diogenes Trilogy: Brimstone, Dance of Death, and The Book of the Dead Omnibus (Agent Pendergast series) (2012) 23 copies, 1 review
The Forgotten Killer: Rudy Guede and the Murder of Meredith Kercher (Kindle Single) (2014) 15 copies
City of Endless Night (Free Preview: First 5 Chapters) (Agent Pendergast series) (2017) 11 copies, 1 review
A Gideon Crew Collection: Gideon's Sword, Gideon's Corpse, and The Lost Island Omnibus (Gideon Crew Series) (2016) 10 copies
The Helen Trilogy: Fever Dream, Cold Vengeance, and Two Graves Omnibus (Agent Pendergast series) (2016) 6 copies
The Obsidian Chamber - EXTENDED FREE PREVIEW (first 7 chapters) (Agent Pendergast series) (2016) 3 copies
Verses for the Dead (Free Preview: The First Four Chapters ) (Agent Pendergast series) (2018) 2 copies
Ihanetin Savasi 1 copy
The Dr. Leng Trilogy 1 copy
Strangers 1 copy
Desperation 1 copy
The Cabinet of Curiosities (Agent Pendergast series) by Douglas Preston Lincoln Child(2014-05-27) 1 copy
Dead Mountain Nora Kelly #4 1 copy
Who is Gideon Crew? 1 copy
La strada di sabbia e ossa 1 copy
Danse de mort 1 copy
Nel fuoco 1 copy
Old Bones Nora Kelly #1 1 copy
Cannibals of the Canyon 1 copy
Diablo Mesa Nora Kelly #3 1 copy
Associated Works
The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives (2009) — Contributor — 220 copies, 3 reviews
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: The Last Juror • The Various Haunts of Men • The Codex • Life and Limb (2004) 15 copies
Australian Reader's Digest Select Editions: The Ambler Warning • True Believer • Tyrannosaur Canyon • Quite… (2006) 10 copies, 1 review
Livros Condensados: Sorriso Assassino | Comam Bolos! | O Códice | A Morte e a Vida de Charlie St. Cloud (2005) 6 copies
Livros Condensados: O Martelo do Paraíso | És Minha | A Ilha Maldita | Amy e os Gansos Bravos (1999) — Author — 5 copies
Reader's Digest Select Editions: The Last Juror | The Various Haunts of Men | The Codex | The Curious Incident of the… (2004) — Author — 5 copies
Australian Reader's Digest Select Editions: Tripwire • Thunderhead • Lake News • Flight of Eagles (2000) 4 copies
Livros Condensados: Terreno Minado | O Homem dos Sete Ofícios | Frente de Tempestade | Um Raio de Luz (2001) — Author — 4 copies
Het Beste Boek 237: De codex / De eerste gast / Voltreffer / De pianist — Author — 2 copies, 1 review
Kirjavaliot - Suden läheisyys / Kuu paistaa haudallesi / Kirottu kuilu / Kolme toivomusta (1999) 1 copy
Det Bästas Bokval (2005) vol 240 : Nattväktarna; Nätterna vid havet; Kodex; Damernas detektivbyrå — Author — 1 copy
Reader's Digest Auswahlbücher 278 - Der Canyon. Die Heideärztin. Gambling. Die Sturmfängerin (2008) — Author — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Preston, Douglas J.
- Birthdate
- 1956-05-26
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
- Places of residence
- Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA
New York, New York, USA
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
Round Pond, Maine, USA - Education
- Pomona College
Cambridge School of Weston - Occupations
- editor
writer
manager of publications
professor
research associate
School of American Research (Boardmember) - Relationships
- Preston, Richard (brother)
Dickinson, Emily (Ancestor) - Organizations
- American Museum of Natural History
The Atlantic Monthly
Smithsonian
The New Yorker
Laboratory of Anthropology (Santa Fe)
PEN New Mexico - Agent
- Eric Simonoff (Janklow & Nesbit Associates)
Matthew Snyder - Short biography
- Douglas Preston is the author of thirty-five books, both fiction and nonfiction, twenty-two of which have been New York Times bestsellers, with several reaching the number 1 position. He has worked as an editor at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and taught nonfiction writing at Princeton University. His first novel, RELIC, co-authored with Lincoln Child, was made into a movie by Paramount Pictures, which launched the famed Pendergast series of novels. His recent nonfiction book, THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE, is also in production as a film. His latest book, THE LOST CITY OF THE MONKEY GOD, tells the true story of the discovery of a prehistoric city in an unexplored valley deep in the Honduran jungle. In addition to books, Preston writes about archaeology and paleontology for the New Yorker, National Geographic, and Smithsonian. He is past co-president of International Thriller Writers and serves on the board of the Authors Guild. He is the recipient of numerous writing awards in the US and Europe, including an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Pomona College.
- Disambiguation notice
- This author is Douglas Preston. DO NOT COMBINE THIS PAGE WITH ANY JOINT PAGES OF DOUGLAS PRESTON AND LINCOLN CHILD Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child are two different people, who have written books collaboratively and separately. Their author pages should not be combined with each other, or with any of the variants using both their names. Please see "Who Should/Shouldn't Get combined" on the Author wiki page. Thank you.
Members
Reviews
Lists
Books Read in 2023 (23)
Page Turners (1)
2010s (1)
True Crime (1)
To Read (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 112
- Also by
- 28
- Members
- 76,664
- Popularity
- #160
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 2,435
- ISBNs
- 1,801
- Languages
- 23
- Favorited
- 177
This book is a series of interconnected stories set in an apartment block in New York City during the pandemic lockdown. I listened to the audiobook and my one regret is that there was no additional information about which author wrote which piece. In all as there was in the printed edition, 36 authors contributed to the book so, obviously, more than one person created each tale. Maybe it doesn't matter but it would just provide a finishing touch.
The residents of the Fernsby Arms gather on the roof of the building each night in order to take part in the nightly ritual of noisemaking to show appreciation for health care workers. They linger on after that outburst, all carefully social distanced, and tell stories. The building's superintendant covertly records the stories and then transcribes them into a scrapbook left behind by her predecessor. Her predecessor kept notes about all the tenants and gave them all nicknames. They are a diverse group so their stories are quite different. Many deal with death and/or ghosts as may be expected given the time they are experiencing. No one seems to have contact with anyone outside the building. The superintendant's father is in a nursing home and she hasn't been able to reach anyone there. A doctor staying in the building while she helps out in the emergency ward of a local hospital (although she's on leave right now) also can't get through. Residents, including the super, hear strange noises in an apartment that is supposed to be vacant. Occasionally, strangers show up on the roof top when the super knows the door to the outside is locked tight. It's all a little spooky but also very interesting. And the ending absolutely threw me for a loop. I didn't see that coming.
The Decameron, a similar book of stories supposedly written by a group of people who fled Florence during the Black Death, is referenced several times. Obviously, this provided a starting point for this collective of writers but they gave it a twenty-first century spin. One obvious difference is that the people in The Decameron left the city whereas these people were the ones left behind when the well-off fled the city.… (more)