Po Bronson

Po Bronson
Bronson at 2009 Texas Book Festival
Born	Philip Bronson (1964-03-14) March 14, 1964 (age 53) Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Residence	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation	journalist and author

Po Bronson (born March 14, 1964) is an American journalist and author who lives in San Francisco.

Bronson was born in Seattle, Washington. After attending Lakeside School in Seattle, he graduated from Stanford University in 1986, and briefly worked as an assistant bond salesman in San Francisco.

Bronson abandoned finance to pursue writing, publishing short stories and eventually a comedic novel based upon his bond trading experiences. This first novel, Bombardiers (1995), was an international best seller.

Bronson went on to write articles for the New York Times Magazine and others, but perhaps became best known for his work in Wired magazine and other technology-related publications.

Then, during the rise of the internet/high tech in the late 1990s, Bronson became a leading chronicler of Silicon Valley in its heyday, writing two more best sellers. The first, The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest, was a novel sending up technology start-ups. The second, The Nudist on the Late Shift, was a nonfiction portrayal of those who had followed the modern day gold rush to Silicon Valley.

With the collapse of the internet bubble in 2000, and after creating The $treet, a short-lived television drama for Fox again drawing upon his bond trading days, Bronson began searching for a new direction for his career. Realizing he was not alone in this quest, he began to focus on others in similar quandaries.

Bronson spent the next two years working on a new nonfiction book, What Should I Do with My Life? which profiles about 50 people, exploring how each had confronted the question. The hardcover release of the book was a New York Times #1 bestseller. It remained on the bestseller list for 22 weeks, and a dozen more in paperback.