AUTHOR

Bill Schutt

Biographies & Memoirs | Literature & Fiction | Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Bill Schutt (@BillSchuttBooks and billschutt.com) is a vertebrate zoologist, author and Emeritus Professor of Biology at Long Island University. Bill's new book, "Pump: A Natural History of the Heart" has already garnered great reviews from Publisher's Weekly (starred review), The Wall Street Journal, Booklist, Library Journal and elsewhere. Readers can purchase Pump wherever books are sold. Schutt's last non-fiction book, "Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History" (Algonquin) examines the phenomenon of cannibalism in nature and among humans. With great reviews from The New York Times (Editor's Choice), Boston Globe, Publisher's Weekly, Scientific American and The New Yorker, "Cannibalism" was named a Best Book of the Year by Amazon and was a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist. "Cannibalism" was illustrated by Patricia J. Wynne, renowned artist and Schutt's long-time friend and AMNH colleague. Schutt is currently finishing up his first solo novel and is also working on a new popular science book about teeth. Schutt's first book, "Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures" garnered rave reviews from the likes of E.O. Wilson and the New York Times. The Library Journal and Amazon.com both named Dark Banquet one of the "Best books of 2008". Additionally, Barnes and Noble selected "Dark Banquet" for its 2008 "Discover Great New Writers" program. Bill's first novel, "Hell's Gate", (w/ J.R. Finch) was published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in 2016. "Hell's Gate" is the first in a historical-science thriller trilogy featuring R.J. MacCready, the Indiana Jones of zoology. "Hell's Gate" received starred reviews from Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus Reviews and counts James Cameron, Alice Cooper, Clive Cussler, and James Rollins as fans. Book two in the R.J. MacCready Trilogy "The Himalayan Codex" hit bookshelves in June 2017 with a starred review in Publisher's Weekly, and the "The Darwin Strain" was published in 2019. Bill Schutt was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island. After graduating from Lindenhurst High School, he attended Southampton College before graduating from C.W. Post with a BA in Biology. Schutt then attended SUNY Geneseo where he earned a Master's Degree in Biology. Schutt enrolled at Cornell University under the mentorship of John W. Hermanson where he began studying various aspects of anatomy, evolution, and behavior in bats. Initially, Schutt investigated the passive digital lock, a ratchet-like mechanism that allows some bats to hang for extended periods of time without muscle fatigue. Gradually, Bill became more involved in the study of vampire bats - their anatomy, evolution, behavior, and especially, their ability to move efficiently on the ground. Schutt maintained a colony of vampire bats at Cornell for three years. Schutt and his coworkers used the force platform and a hi-speed camera to study the forces generated during flight-initiating jumps by the common vampire bat. After graduating with a Ph.D. from Cornell in 1995, Bill taught for three years at Bloomfield College in New Jersey while simultaneously working on a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at the American Museum of Natural History with Nancy Simmons. In 1998, Bill Schutt accepted a faculty position at Southampton College (Long Island University). In 2005, he transferred to his undergraduate alma mater, LIU-Post, where he was a Professor of Biology (teaching undergraduate courses in Human Anatomy and Physiology, Comparative Anatomy and Vertebrate Paleontology) until he took an early retirement in 2020 (after 22 years at LIU). Bill is now a full-time author and maintains strong ties to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), where he is a Research Associate in the Department of Mammalogy. Bill Schutt has been an active member of the North American Society for Bat Research (NASBR) for 26 years, serving on their Board of Directors for eight years. Bill lives in New York with his wife and son. Readers can learn more about Bill Schutt at his website www.billschutt.com and Facebook page (Bill Schutt, author). They can also contact him via email at william.schutt@liu.edu and follow him on Twitter (@BillSchuttBooks) and GoodReads (Bill Schutt, Author). For media interviews or for information on having Bill Schutt give a presentation for your group or organization, please contact Ashley Himes (Manager, Workman Speakers Bureau) at ahimes@workman.com, or Amanda Dissinger (Senior Publicist, Algonquin Books) at amandad@algonquin.com. For Bill's fiction books, please contact the HarperCollins Speaker's Bureau at http://www.harpercollinsspeakersbureau.com/speaker/bill-schutt/ Bill's literary agent for nonfiction is Gillian MacKenzie, and his fiction is represented by Liz Rudnick. Gillian MacKenzie Agency, New York, New York. email: gmackenzie@gmalit.com.