by Dana Mackenzie | Jul 21, 2026 | Articles, Books
Today is publication day for a very unusual book that I contributed to. The Best Science Stories and How They Work is a compilation of eleven articles about science, selected by longtime science editor Siri Carpenter. Siri is also the co-founder of The Open Notebook,...
by Dana Mackenzie | Jun 2, 2025 | Books, Chess, Did You Come Here to Play Chess or to Have Fun?
Today I’m happy to give a shout-out to one of the longtime fans of “dana blogs chess,” Helmut Froeyman of Belgium… or as you might know him from the many comments he left on my blog, “brabo.” Helmut, who is a FIDE Master, has...
by Dana Mackenzie | Apr 30, 2025 | Books, Chess, Events
Hello again, world! This spring is an exciting time for me, because it’s publication time for my new book, Did You Come Here to Play Chess or to Have Fun? If you live in Europe, the book was already published earlier this month. If you live in America, the...
by Dana Mackenzie | Oct 20, 2019 | Book of Why, Books, Events, Mathematics
I’d like to announce the newest addition to the Mackenzie book collection! What’s Happening in the Mathematical Sciences (WHIMS) is an ongoing series published by the American Mathematical Society, about… well, just what the title says: current and...
by Dana Mackenzie | May 15, 2019 | Book of Why, Books
Although I recently had a small reminder of the value of humility, today I’m going to soldier on in my immodest way and celebrate the first anniversary of one of the most exciting days of my life, the publication day of The Book of Why. Being a writer, especially of...
by Dana Mackenzie | Apr 11, 2019 | Book of Why, Books, Causation
Last week I got a package in the mail from England: ten copies of the paperback edition of The Book of Why! The occasion brought to mind that goofy old Beatles song, Paperback Writer. In fact, I’ve been waiting quite a long time to be a “paperback...
by Dana Mackenzie | Jan 9, 2019 | Articles, Book of Why, Books, Causation
Yesterday Judea Pearl, my co-author, sent me a link to a fascinating article that I consider to be even better than a book review. It is something that every author dreams of — positive evidence that our book is making a difference in the real world. In the...
by Dana Mackenzie | Dec 7, 2018 | Book of Why, Books, Causation
This morning, my co-author Judea Pearl sent me an e-mail: “Did you know about this?” Well, no, I didn’t. Here’s what “this” means: http://s3.amazonaws.com/scifri-segments/scifri201812076.mp3 Science Friday, probably the...
by Dana Mackenzie | Oct 24, 2018 | Books, Mathematics
Once upon a time, I wrote a book. Interestingly, the idea for the book was not mine. A book packager named Elwin Street Productions, in London, came to me with a proposal for a history of the greatest equations in mathematics. The book came out in 2012 as The...
by Dana Mackenzie | Aug 30, 2018 | Book of Why, Books, Causation, Events, Santa Cruz
Today Jen Golbeck’s interview with Judea and me for the Science (magazine) Podcast went up, and you can listen to it here. (Alternatively, for the next 7 days, you can also go to the main Science magazine website at www.sciencemag.org and scroll down to the...
