Bronx-born Jeff Greenwald moved west when he was 19 and has lived in Oakland, California for the past 15 years. Since 1979 he has traveled throughout the world, working as a writer, photographer and visual artist.
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His first book, Mr. Raja’s Neighborhood: Letters from Nepal, was published in 1985; many consider it a “cult classic” of Asian travel literature. Shopping for Buddhas, published in 1990, was reissued by Lonely Planet in 1996. The revised edition won the Lowell Thomas Gold Medal for Best Travel Book of the Year and has been translated into five languages. The Size of the World: Once Around Without Leaving the Ground – a chronicle of his nine-month, 29,172-mile, around the world overland voyage – was a national bestseller in 1995, while Future Perfect, Greenwald’s quirky look at the impact of Star Trek on global culture, appeared in 1998.
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Jeff divides his time between Oakland and Asia, contributing travel and science articles to a variety of publications including The New York Times Magazine, Yoga Journal, National Geographic Adventures, Outside, and Islands. A pioneer of internet travel writing, his stories have often been featured on Salon.
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Scratching the Surface: Impressions of Planet Earth from Hollywood to Shiraz, released in 2002, is Greenwald’s first anthology, containing 31 previously published short works written during the past 23 years. The book became a national bestseller in November 2002.