Paul Levinson

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Paul Levinson
Born 1947
Bronx, New York
Occupation Professor, Author

Paul Levinson BA, MA, PhD is an author and professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University in New York City. Levinson's novels, short fiction, and non-fiction works have been translated into twelve languages.

As a commentator on media, popular culture, and science fiction he has been interviewed over 500 times on many local, national and international television and radio shows. He is frequently quoted in newspapers and magazines around the world and his op-eds have appeared in such major papers as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, New York's Newsday, and the New York Sun. He is interviewed in a short weekly spot early Sunday mornings on KNX-AM Radio in Los Angeles, on media-related news events and popular culture.

In 1985 he co-founded Connected Education, offering online courses for Masters credit. He served as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 1998 to 2001.

He is presently Chair of the Department of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University. He previously taught at the New School for Social Research, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Hofstra University, St. John's University, Polytechnic University of New York, Audrey Cohen College and the Western Behavioral Sciences Institute (WBSI). He has given lectures in classes and conferences at many universities including the London School of Economics, Harvard University, New York University, and the University of Toronto and authored over 100 scholarly articles.

Prior to his academic career, Levinson was a songwriter, singer and record producer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with recordings by the Vogues, Donna Marie of the Archies and Ellie Greenwich. As a radio producer he worked with Murray the K and Wolfman Jack.

Levinson's work is influenced by Isaac Asimov, Thomas Jefferson, John Stuart Mill, Marshall McLuhan, Karl Popper, Carl Sagan, and Donald T. Campbell.

Contents

[edit] Education

Paul Levinson graduated from Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, attended the City College of New York (CCNY) in the 1960s, and received a BA in journalism from New York University in 1975; an MA in Media Studies from the New School for Social Research in 1976; and a PhD from New York University in media ecology in 1979. His doctoral dissertation, Human Replay: A Theory of the Evolution of Media, was mentored by Neil Postman.

[edit] Author

Levinson writes science fiction, fantasy, and sf/mystery hybrids with philosophical undertones as well as non-fiction about the history and future of communications media, the First Amendment, the importance of space exploration, and popular culture themes. His work has been translated into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Polish, Romanian, Macedonian, Croatian, and Turkish.

He has received many awards and honors for his writing, including multiple nominations for the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Prometheus, Edgar and Audie Awards. His novel The Silk Code won the Locus Award for Best First Novel of 1999.

The central character of The Silk Code, NYPD forensic detective Dr. Phil D'Amato, made his first appearance in Levinson's novelette, "The Chronology Protection Case", (published in Analog magazine, September 1995). D'Amato returned in "The Copyright Notice Case" novelette (Analog, April 1996), "The Mendelian Lamp Case" novelette (Analog, April 1997), and in subsequent novels The Consciousness Plague (2002), and The Pixel Eye (2003). An adaptation of Levinson's "The Chronology Protection Case" (radioplay by Mark Shanahan with Paul Levinson & Jay Kensinger) was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for the Edgar Award for Best Play of 2002.

Levinson's most recent book is The Plot To Save Socrates, a time travel novel. Entertainment Weekly magazine called it "challenging fun".

[edit] novels

[edit] non-fiction books

  • In Pursuit of Truth: Essays on the Philosophy of Karl Popper on the Occasion of his 80th Birthday (editor and contributor) with Forewords by Isaac Asimov and Helmut Schmidt (1982) Humanities Press ISBN 0391026097
  • Mind at Large: Knowing in the Technological Age (1988) JAI Press ISBN 0892328169
  • Electronic Chronicles: Columns of the Changes in our Time (1992) Anamnesis Press ISBN 0963120336
  • Learning Cyberspace: Essays on the Evolution of Media and the New Education (1995) Anamnesis Press ISBN 0963120395
  • The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution (1997) Routledge ISBN 0415157854
  • Bestseller: Wired, Analog, and Digital Writings (1999) Pulpless ISBN 1584450339 [includes fiction and non-fiction]
  • Digital McLuhan: A Guide to the Information Millennium (1999) Routledge ISBN 041519251X
  • Realspace: The Fate of Physical Presence in the Digital Age, On and Off Planet (2003) Routledge ISBN 0415277434
  • Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium and How It Has Transformed Everything! (2004) Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 1403960410

[edit] Media commentator

Paul Levinson is a frequent guest on local, national, and international cable and network television and public, commercial, and satellite radio programs.

These have included:

Paul Levinson has been quoted thousands of times in newspapers, magazines, and news services around the world. Some of these are: USA Today, The New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, U.S. News and World Report, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, Newsday, Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Houston Chronicle, Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Wired, Smithsonian Magazine, London Daily Mail, the Toronto Globe and Mail, the Associated Press, Reuters, and UPI.

[edit] Songwriter, recording artist, and record producer

[edit] External links

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