Derek Thompson (journalist)
American journalist (born 1986)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Derek Kahn Thompson (born May 18, 1986)[1][2] is an American podcaster and journalist. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic.[3] He is the author of Hit Makers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction and, with Ezra Klein, the co-author of Abundance.
- Journalist
- podcaster
Derek Thompson | |
|---|---|
Thompson in 2017 | |
| Born | May 18, 1986 McLean, Virginia, U.S. |
| Education | Northwestern University (BA) |
| Occupations |
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Early life
Derek Thompson was born in McLean, Virginia, the son of Robert Thompson and Petra Kahn.[4][5] Before graduating from high school, he appeared in several theatrical productions at the Folger Shakespeare Library[6] and the Shakespeare Theater.[7] After attending the Potomac School, Thompson graduated from Northwestern University in 2008 with a triple major in journalism, political science, and legal studies.[8][9][10]
Career
Thompson began as a writer at The Atlantic in 2009.[11] Starting 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] November 2021, Thompson began hosting a weekly headline podcast entitled Plain English, part of The Ringer Podcast Network.[13]
Thompson has written three cover stories for the magazine. The first, "A World Without Work", is a widely referenced[14][15] 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.[16] The third, "The Anti-Social Century", published in the magazine's February 2025 issue, points out that Americans are spending more time alone than ever before.[17] Thompson contends that this surge in solitude is fundamentally reshaping personalities, politics, and culture, noting that people are increasingly opting for solitude even when it doesn't make them happier.[18]
In 2017, Thompson published his first book, Hit Makers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction. It was the winner of the American Marketing Association's Leonard L. Berry Marketing Book Award for the best marketing book of 2018.[19] Thompson coauthored his next book, Abundance, with Ezra Klein.[20] The book argues that shortages of key pillars of "the good life" — housing, energy, healthcare, and innovation — are the result of artificial, policy-driven scarcities in liberal policy-making.[21][22]
After 17 years at The Atlantic, Thompson left his full-time role to write independently on Substack in June 2025. In a post explaining the move, he cited a desire for more editorial freedom and to write for himself after almost two decades at a single publication.[23]
Personal life
Thompson describes himself as a secular Reform Jew.[24] As of 2025[update], he and his wife reside in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with their daughter.[25] He is a subscriber to effective altruism.[26]
Bibliography
- Thompson, Derek (2017). Hit makers: the science of popularity in an age of distraction. New York: Penguin Press. ISBN 978-1-101-98032-3.
- Thompson, Derek (2023). On Work: Money, Meaning, Identity. Zando. ISBN 978-1-63893-073-0.
- Klein, Ezra; Thompson, Derek (2025). Abundance. New York: Avid Reader Press. ISBN 978-1-6680-2348-8.