Richard Preston was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 5, 1954. He grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and was drawn to books throughout his childhood, particularly scientific works. He writes, “. . . I read, at age ten, about astronomer Edwin Hubble’s discovery that the galaxies are moving away from one another, that the universe is expanding, and that it began with the Big Bang. It impressed me no end.”
Preston graduated from Wellesley High School in 1972 and was initially rejected from every college to which he applied. Preston became determined to attend Pomona College in Southern California, despite having missed the application deadline by several months. Not to be...
