Richard Preston was born in in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 5, 1954. Growing up, Preston enjoyed scientific non-fiction, and through his love for these novels, he decided to base his career writing scientific pieces. After graduating with a Phd in English, he wrote First Light, a novel about the hardship of astronomers. This book won the American Institute of Physics Science Writing award in 1988. In the early 1990s, Preston feared the AIDS crisis and learned about the outbreak of Ebola in Reston, Virginia. Furthermore, Preston decided to trace events and write an article titled “The Crisis in the Hot Zone”, and eventually, this article was adapted in The Hot Zone. Eventually, the Hot Zone became an international best seller, and was
