Richard Preston has written nine books, including The Hot Zone, The Demon in the Freezer, and The Wild Trees. His books have been translated into more than 30 languages, and most of them have first appeared as articles in The New Yorker. Preston has won numerous awards, including the American Institute of Physics Award and the National Magazine Award. He's also the only person not a medical doctor ever to receive the Centers for Disease Control's Champion of Prevention Award for public health. An asteroid is named "Preston" after him. (Asteroid Preston is a ball of rock three miles in diameter, traveling on a wild orbit near Mars.)