Listen each Monday - January 14 through February 4 - to hear Jonathan Baker explore the world of crime. BookBytes are heard at 7:45 a.m. during Morning Edition and again at 6:44 p.m. during All Things Considered.
Jonathan Baker recently returned to the High Plains from New York City, where he was the assistant to the editor-in-chief at W. W. Norton & Co. At Norton. Baker worked with a wide variety of authors, including Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael Lewis, and Larry McMurtry.
During his time in publishing, Baker worked on books that were shortlisted for a National Book Award and a Booker Prize, and Norton was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in History.
A former professional comedian, Baker has performed all over the United States and appeared on NBC’s Last Comic Standing. He holds an undergraduate degree in English with a History minor from West Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in the humanities from the University of Chicago. At U Chicago, Baker focused on American literature but studied a wide range of topics, from architectural history to 19th-century landscape painting to the history of the natural sciences. His master’s thesis was on glaciers and ice age theory in the Victorian Era.
When not curating regional news stories for High Plains Public Radio, Baker writes advertisements for publications like Esquire and Car & Driver. He is currently writing a series of mysteries due to be published soon. He recently finished the fourth book, a murder story set on the barren Texas plains. Baker is the father of a 12-year-old boy, Inigo. They live in Canyon, Texas in a tiny wooden house where they watch a lot of cheesy old horror movies.
Baker’s Favorites - Recommended Reading:
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton