Maria Konnikova was born in Moscow and grew up in the United States. Her first book, Mastermind, was a New York Times bestseller. She is a contributing writer for The New Yorker, where she writes a regular column with a focus on psychology and culture, and her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Scientific American MIND and The Smithsonian, among numerous other publications. Maria graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and received her PhD in psychology from Columbia University. She is currently a Schachter Writing Fellow at Columbia University's Motivation Science Center and lives in New York City. www.mariakonnikova.com