Owen has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1991[1] and a contributing editor of Golf Digest since 1995; previously he was a contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly and a senior writer for Harper's Magazine.[2] For six years he was a regular columnist for Home magazine. He was also a contributing editor and columnist for Spy.
Owen won an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship in 1984 to research and write about standardized testing in the American education system.[3]
Personal life
Owen lives in Washington, Connecticut with his wife, Ann Hodgman. They have two adult children, both writers: Laura Hazard Owen and John Bailey Owen.
Works
Books
High School: Undercover with the Class of '80 (New York: Viking, 1981) ISBN0670371491
None of the Above: Behind the Myth of Scholastic Aptitude (pb. subtitle: The Truth Behind the SATs (New YorkL Houghton Mifflin Company, 1985) ISBN978-0-395-35540-4ISBN0-395-35540-0
The Making of the Masters: Clifford Roberts, Augusta National, and Golf's Most Prestigious Tournament (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999) ISBN0684867516
Hit & Hope: How the Rest of Us Play Golf (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003) ISBN0743261461
The First National Bank of Dad: The Best Way to Teach Kids About Money (pb. subtitle: A Foolproof Method for Teaching Your Kids the Value of Money) (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003) ISBN978-0-7432-0480-4ISBN0-7432-0480-8
Copies in Seconds: How a Lone Inventor and an Unknown Company Created the Biggest Communication Breakthrough Since Gutenberg – Chester Carlson and the Birth of Xerox (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004) ISBN978-0-7432-5118-1ISBN0-7432-5118-0
Sheetrock and Shellac: A Thinking Person's Guide to the Art and Science of Home Improvement (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006) ISBN978-0-7432-5120-4ISBN0-7432-5120-2
Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability (New York: Riverhead, 2009) ISBN9781594484841
The Conundrum: How Scientific Innovation, Increased Efficiency, and Good Intentions Can Make our Energy and Climate Problems Worse (New York: Riverhead, 2012) ISBN9781594485619
Essays and reporting
"Those Who Can't, Consult," Harper's, August 1982,[4]