知名知識史學者、新聞記者，曾為《紐約時報》、《倫敦泰晤士報》、《觀察家》和《旁觀者》執筆。著作豐富，有《卡拉瓦喬的叛謀》（The Caravaggio Conspiracy，被英國BBC改編成劇本並獲艾美獎提名）、Fallout: Conspiracy, Cover-Up and the Deceitful Case for the Atom Bomb、The Age of Nothing: How We Have Sought to Live Since the Death of God、The Great Divide: Nature and Human Nature in the Old World and the New、The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution, and the Twentieth Century等，近20本書。