Maggie Jackson

Maggie Jackson is an award-winning author and social critic with a global reach. Her latest book, Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure, explores why we should seek not-knowing in an era of flux and angst. Nominated for a National Book Award and named a “Best Book” of 2023 and 2024 multiple times, Uncertain is an official selection of the Next Big Idea Club curated by Malcolm Gladwell, Dan Pink, Adam Grant, and Susan Cain. Lauded as “surprising and practical” (Gretchen Rubin), “remarkable and persuasive” (Library Journal), and “incisive and timely” (Dan Pink), Uncertain went into a third printing eight months after publication and has been featured in major media worldwide. Jackson’s lead New York Times op-ed on uncertainty and resilience drew a quarter-million views.

A former correspondent in Asia and Europe and a popular past Boston Globe columnist, Jackson also has written for Nautilus, Utne, The New York Times, CNN and many other publications. Her acclaimed book Distracted (2nd Ed., 2018) sparked a global conversation on the costs of fragmenting our attention and has been compared to Silent Spring for its prescience. Jackson wrote the foreword to Living with Robots: Emerging Issues on the Psychological and Social Implications of Robotics (2019) and has contributed essays to numerous other anthologies, including State of the American Mind: Sixteen Leading Critics on the New Anti-Intellectualism (2015) and The Digital Divide (2011). The recipient of numerous fellowships, grants, and awards, including the 2020 Dorothy Lee prize for excellence in tech criticism, she lives in New York City and coastal Rhode Island.