About
Vince Beiser is an award-winning journalist and author. He has reported from over 100 countries, states, provinces, kingdoms, occupied territories, no man’s lands and disaster zones. Vince has exposed conditions in California’s harshest prisons, trained with US Army soldiers, ridden with the first responders to natural disasters, and hunted down other stories from around the world for publications including Wired, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, The Economist, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. His latest book, “Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future” is an investigation into how the materials we need for digital technology and renewable energy are causing environmental havoc, political upheaval, mayhem and murder—and how we can do better. Vince’s first book, “The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How It Transformed Civilization,” about the deadly and destructive impacts of humanity’s use of this little-considered yet crucially important natural resource, was a finalist for a PEN America award and a California Book Award, and spawned a TEDx talk.
Keep up with Vince’s reporting via his newsletter, Power Metal.
Vince’s work has been honored by Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Association of Science Writers, the Columbia, Medill and Missouri Graduate Schools of Journalism, and many other institutions. He has also shared in three National Magazine Awards and an Emmy.
Vince has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows on CBS, BBC, NPR and other networks, and on many conference panels and lectures. His work has been featured on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, and, of all shows, Jeopardy! Over the years, Vince has also been a senior editor for Mother Jones, a contributing editor to Playboy, a special projects reporter for The Oakland Tribune, and a senior writer for The Jerusalem Report, Israel’s leading news magazine. His articles have been featured in numerous textbooks and anthologies, and have been translated into half-a-dozen languages. Several have been optioned by film and television producers.
Vince graduated with highest honors (Summa cum Laude) from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies.
He is also, oddly, the co-author of a feature film screenplay commissioned by director Steven Soderbergh.
