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Portrait of J. D. Biersdorfer

J. D. Biersdorfer

I write about technology with the average person in mind, concentrating on how to use gadgets most efficiently for a variety of tasks. For the Book Review Quiz Bowl, I design and write trivia challenges and word-search puzzles that invite readers to test their knowledge and discover books in new ways.

I have worked at The Times since 1994 in a variety of roles, including production editor, Mac support specialist, podcast co-host and columnist. I have been writing a regular tech-help column since 1998 and have contributed articles and reviews for several other sections of The Times. I’m currently on the Book Review staff.

I am the author or co-author of eight books on consumer-technology topics, including “iPad: The Missing Manual” and “Best iPhone Apps” (Second Edition). Before I came to The Times, I worked at Rolling Stone magazine after a short stint in technical theater. My dad was an Air Force officer, and I grew up in California, Washington D.C., Maryland and North Dakota before he got out of the military and we moved to rural Indiana. I graduated from Indiana University-Bloomington with a B.A. in theater and currently live in New York City.

All Times journalists are committed to upholding the standards of integrity outlined in our Ethical Journalism Handbook. As a science-fiction nerd, I personally view the role of the journalist much like that of the Watchers in the old “Highlander” television show: “Observe and record, but never interfere.” While this may seem a cheeky pop-culture approach, I find it in line with The Times’s own 1896 mission statement, when its new owner Adolph S. Ochs announced that the paper’s aim was “to give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect or interests involved.”

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