Background

His parents were born Solomon Dubner and Florence Greenglass. His mother was the first cousin of Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg. His father worked as a copy editor at The Troy Record. His parents, separately, converted to Catholicism from Judaism. After their baptism, they renamed themselves Paul and Veronica. Dubner grew up in Duanesburg, New York, the youngest of eight children, and received a devout Roman Catholic upbringing.

Dubner has explained his own choice to practice Judaism as an adult as follows: "I did not grow up Jewish, but my parents did....But for my parents—and now, for me, as I am becoming a Jew—there is a pointed difference. We have chosen our religion, rejecting what we inherited for what we felt we needed."

Dubner's first published work was in the American children's magazine Highlights for Children. Dubner received a scholarship from Appalachian State University in North Carolina, and graduated in 1984. At Appalachian he formed a band, "The Right Profile," which was signed to Arista Records. In 1988, he stopped playing music to focus more on writing, going on to receive a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Columbia University (1990), where he also taught in the English Department. In the 1990s, Dubner was a story editor at The New York Times Magazine.

Dubner, married twice, currently resides in New York City with his wife, Ellen Binder-Dubner, and their two children.

Dun Cow FC

Dubner is also the principal sponsor, through Freakonomics Radio, of an English Sunday League side from Shrewsbury called Dun Cow FC, after being contacted by the club's Media Manager Alex Simpson.

Books

• Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son’s Return to His Jewish Family (1998, ISBN 0-380-72930-X)
  • Republished as Choosing My Religion: a Memoir of a Family Beyond Belief (2006, ISBN 0061132993)
• Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper (2003) (ISBN 0-688-17365-9)
• Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, co-author with Steven Levitt (2005) (ISBN 0-06-089637-X)
• The Boy With Two Belly Buttons, a children’s book, (HarperCollins, 2007) (ISBN 978-0061134029)
• SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, co-author with Steven Levitt (2009) (ISBN 0-060-88957-8)
• Think Like a Freak: The Authors of Freakonomics Offer to Retrain Your Brain, co-author with Steven Levitt (2014) (ISBN 0-062-21833-6)
• When to Rob a Bank: ...And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants, co-author with Steven Levitt (2015) (ISBN 0-062-38532-1)

Other media

• Freakonomics: The Movie (2010), Chad Troutwine documentary; marketing/distribution via Tribeca Film Festival, Apple Inc. iTunes Store and pay-what-you-wish theatrical release
• Freakonomics Radio, hosted by Dubner with Levitt as periodic guest; podcast and segments on Marketplace on US public-radio stations
• Choosing My Religion is being developed as a film.

Awards

• Finalist for the Koret Jewish Book Award, for Turbulent Souls
• Quill Award
• Short-listed for Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award

[ Source: Wikipedia ]