J. Peder Zane is a writer and editor who has worked at The New York Times and The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina. He is now an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications at St. Augustine's College in Raleigh. He is co-author, with Professor Adrian Bejan of Duke University, of "Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology and Social Organization," which Doubleday is publishing this month. He also edited and contributed to two books published by W.W. Norton, "The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books" (2007) and "Remarkable Reads: 34 Writers and Their Adventures in Reading" (2004). His work has won several national awards including the Distinguished Writing Award for Commentary from the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He is a former member of the Board of the National Book Critics Circle. He is a graduate of the Collegiate School, Wesleyan University and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.