Matt Richtel is an author, journalist, and (we kid you not) cartoonist. HOOKED is his first novel, and he is currently writing a second, tentatively titled Idle’s Mind. Matt makes most of his living as a New York Times reporter, covering technology and telecommunications from the San Francisco bureau. He began at the paper as a freelancer in 1996 and joined the staff in 2000. He has written on a range of topics, including Internet gambling, identity theft, corporate espionage, video games, mobile telecommunications, the dot com bust, and Silicon Valley's economy and its culture. He wrote a seminal piece on the potential physiologically addictive qualities of computer use, and he was heavily involved in the paper’s coverage of the Hewlett-Packard spying scandal. On occasions he writes about non-technology related topics, including a story about the 2006 Adult Film Awards (He still is unclear whether the assignment was a mark of honor or shame). From 2000 to 2002, he wrote a monthly humor column, “backslash,” about the impact of technology on our lives. He currently writes the monthly column “VC Nation,” about the venture capital industry.  In May of 2007, he was named a finalist for the Gerald Loeb Award, one of business journalism's most prestigious awards.

In his spare time, Matt writes the syndicated daily comic strip Rudy Park. The strip, launched in 2001, revolves around the lives of regular and occasional patrons at an Internet cafe. It appears in newspapers around the country, including the Chicago Sun Times, Orange County Register and the Rocky Mountain News. Matt writes the strip under the pen name, “Theron Heir.” The comic is illustrated by Darrin Bell, is the subject of two book compilations, Rudy Park: The People Must be Wired, and Rudy Park: Peace, Love and Lattes.

In his other spare time (which, as you can tell by now, is getting lean), Matt is husband, son and grandson, brother, and uncle. He's an avid tennis player and recreational athlete, overly emotional sports fan (California Bears and Denver Broncos), regular host of outdoor barbecues, maker of gourmet guacamole, and a periodic songwriter. Matt is particularly devoted to his paternal grandmother, Annie, and although she professes to be equally devoted to him, and despite his valiant efforts, she regularly crushes him in online scrabble. When asked where he gets the energy to take on various activities and Matt is steadfast in his response: a commitment to regular napping, which he considers a basic human right.

Matt grew up in Boulder, Colorado, the son of two avid readers, attended Boulder High School, and obtained a bachelors degree in rhetoric from University of California at Berkeley and an MS in Journalism from Columbia University. He lives in San Francisco with Meredith Jewel (last name still to be determined) whom he married in October 2006. They are raising a cat, Magus, and considering family expansion.