Steve Olson is an American writer who specializes in science, mathematics, and public policy. He is the author of several nonfiction trade books: Mapping Human History: Genes, Race, and Our Common Origins, which was nominated for the National Book Award in 2002; Count Down: Six Kids Vie for Glory at the World’s Toughest Math Competition in 2004; Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God in 2010; Eruption: The Untold Story of Mt. St. Helens in 2016.
He also has written for many magazines, including the Atlantic Monthly, the Smithsonian, Science, Scientific American, Wired, the Yale Alumni Magazine, the Washingtonian, Slate, and Paste. His articles have been reprinted in Best American Science and Nature Writing 2003 and 2007.