Derek Thompson | |
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 Thompson in 2017 | |
| Born | May 18, 1986 McLean, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education | Northwestern University (BA) |
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Derek Kahn Thompson (born May 18, 1986) [1] [2] is an American podcaster and journalist. He is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of Hit Makers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction and, with Ezra Klein, the co-author of Abundance.
Derek Thompson was born in McLean, Virginia, the son of Robert Thompson and Petra Kahn. [3] [4] Before graduating from high school, he appeared in several theatrical productions at the Folger Shakespeare Theater [5] and the Shakespeare Theater. [6] After attending the Potomac School, Thompson graduated from Northwestern University in 2008 with a triple major in journalism, political science, and legal studies. [7] [8] [9]
Thompson has been a writer at The Atlantic since 2009. [10] Starting in November 2021, Thompson began hosting a weekly headline podcast entitled Plain English, part of The Ringer Podcast Network. [11] In 2018, he became the host of the technology and science podcast Crazy/Genius, which was nominated for an iHeartMedia Best Podcast Award in its first year. [12]
Thompson has written two cover stories for the magazine. The first, "A World Without Work", is a widely referenced [13] [14] essay on the meaning of work and automation's threat to the labor force. The second was a lengthy profile of X, the research and development division of Alphabet. [15]
In 2017, Thompson published his first book, Hit Makers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction. It was a national bestseller [16] and winner of the American Marketing Association's Leonard L. Berry Marketing Book Award for the best marketing book of 2018. [17] Thompson coauthored his next book, Abundance , with Ezra Klein. [18] The book discusses factors impeding progress on development in the United States, including related to climate change and infrastructure.
Thompson describes himself as a secular Reform Jew. [19] As of 2025 [update] , he and his wife reside in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with their daughter. [20] He is a subscriber to effective altruism. [21]
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