CV Native Launches New Book
As he writes about science fiction and futuristic thinkers, author Alec Nevala-Lee credits his Castro Valley roots for inspiring his successful career.
“I’ve benefited from the fact that I was born in Castro Valley and got to grow up there,” Nevala-Lee told the Forum. “I had great family, friends, and teachers, and it’s near Berkeley where a lot was going on. It was in the Castro Valley Library that I first found the ‘Whole Earth Catalog,’ which was a huge influence. I realize now that I grew up in a very interesting part of the country.”
Alec Nevala-Lee attended Chabot Elementary, Canyon Middle, and Castro Valley High Schools. He graduated in 1998 and went straight to Harvard, the only person from his class to do so. On his way to becoming a writer, he studied the classics and learned ancient Greek and Latin in college. He also was a member of the undergrad literary magazine at Harvard, where he published his first stories. After graduation, he moved to New York, “the obvious place to go to be a writer.”
While working in New York he met his wife-to-be, Wailin Wong, who was offered a job at The Chicago Tribune. He relocated to Chicago to be with her and lives there now writing full-time. Over his two-decade career he has written three suspense novels (for Penguin Books) and many science fiction stories and articles for such publications as The New York Times, Slate, The Los Angeles Times, Salon, The Daily Beast, and San Francisco Bay Guardian. In 2018 he wrote a non-fiction book “Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age old Science Fiction.”
As someone who loved science fiction, his latest book was an obvious next step for him.
“Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller” which launched on August 2, uncovers new information about the six-decade career of the famous futurist — whom Nevala-Lee first encountered reading the “Whole Earth Catalog” at Castro Valley Library.
“Buckminster Fuller is a person that people looked to, who covered the bigger issues about what the future might hold. He was the most famous futurist of his era,” says Nevala-Lee.
Much of the research for the book was done at Stanford University, where there are archives of Fuller’s materials and sources. Luckily, Nevala-Lee was able to go twice to Stanford before the pandemic started, and by the time everything locked down he was ready to write the book from home.
Nevala-Lee says he’s currently doing a lot of press to promote the book but wanted to take a moment to thank his fifth-grade teacher at Chabot Elementary School, Bonita Thompson.
“She was someone who really opened up the world to me and encouraged me,” he says.
Nevala-Lee says that he’d be happy to hear from anyone who wishes to contact him. The best way is to go onto his blog, nevalalee.com, and click on Contact Me.
“Inventor of the Future: the Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller“ is available locally on the best sellers table at Books on B, 1014 B St., Hayward.
photo credit: Brian Kinyon
Alec Nevala-Lee has published a new book, “Inventor of the Future: The Visionary Life of Buckminster Fuller.”
