ABOUT

 
 

Michael White, a writer based in Sydney, Australia, is the author of EQUINOX.


He is best known globally for this novel which has been translated into 29 languages and was a UK Top 10 bestseller. However, before writing EQUINOX, Michael White was the author of 26 non-fiction titles. These include the international best-seller, Stephen Hawking - A Life In Science which has been translated into 15 languages; Einstein - A Life in Science and Darwin - A Life In Science (with John Gribbin).


Michael White has been a science editor of British GQ, a columnist for the Sunday Express in London and, in a previous incarnation, he was a member of the Thompson Twins (1982). Between 1984 and 1991 he was a science lecturer at d'Overbroeck's College in Oxford before becoming a full-time writer.


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Early solo efforts included a collection of biographies for teenagers - Newton, Galileo, Lennon and Mozart and a biography of Isaac Asimov, Asimov - The Unauthorized Life (1994)

 
 

 

Since then he has written the international best-seller The Science of the X-Files (1996) and an alternative biography of Isaac Newton, Isaac Newton - The Last Sorcerer. In this, Michael White considered Newton's obsession with magic and alchemy. The book was nominated by four British newspapers as 'Biography of the Year' in 1997 and was awarded 'Book of the Year' in the science category by Bookman Associates in the U.S, an honour he shared with Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees.

 

He followed this with Life Out There - a detailed look at the question of extraterrestrial life and Super Science, a continuation of the theme begun with The Science of the X-Files. Super Science and The Science of the X-Files were published in the U.S as a single volume, Weird Science in 1999.

 

In 1997/8 Michael White was Series Consultant for the Discovery Channel series The Science of the Impossible, televised globally. He is a regular guest on radio and TV and has appeared on Radio 4's Start The Week and the Today Programme. In the U.S, he has been a guest on All Things Considered. In 2001 he presented a National Geographic programme about Leonardo da Vinci broadcast globally in 2002.

 

Later books include: a biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo - The First Scientist, which in Britain became the 4th best-selling science book of 2000 and has now sold some 90,000 copies in the UK. It has been translated into 18 languages. The other is an account of the 1980s and his time in the music industry, entitled: Thompson Twin - An '80s Memoir, published in May 2000.

 

At the end of 2001 Michael White's Tolkien - A Biography was published to tie-in with the global release of the first instalment of the movie, The Lord of the Rings. This book is now being translated into a dozen languages. 2002 saw the publication of The Pope and the Heretic a book about the trial and execution of Giordano Bruno, the first martyr to science.

 

In May 2002 Michael White's Rivals, a book about scientific rivalry from Newton to Gates was short-listed for the prestigious Aventis Prize ('the Booker Prize of Science').

 

In 2002 Michael had published a science fiction/fact book called A History of the 21st Century (co-written with the esteemed American science fiction writer Gentry Lee). Michael's Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science (co-authored with John Gribbin) was published in a new edition in 2004 in the US, UK and Australia. At the end of 2004 two new books appeared. C.S Lewis: The Boy Who Created Narnia, and Machiavelli: A Man Misunderstood, both published by Little Brown in Britain and Penguin in Australia. The same year saw the first US publication of his Isaac Asimov biography first published in the UK in 1994.

 

2005 saw the publication of The Fruits of War and a book about the themes behind the popular TV series, Doctor Who called A Teaspoon and an Open Mind: The Science of Doctor Who. The Fruits of War was long-listed for the 2006 Aventis Prize.

 

Michael has returned to music but only as a serious hobby. He has a studio where he writes and produces a CD of original music each year for friends.

 

His favourite review comes from Publishing News and declared: "Michael White should have written A Brief History of Time."

 

After securing a 'Distinguished Talent' visa, on January 1st 2002 Michael moved to Perth, Australia with his wife, Lisa and their four children India, George, Noah and Finn. The family moved to Sydney in 2007.

 

Michael White was made an Honorary Fellow of Curtin University of Technology, Perth in 2004.

 

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