As early as 1973, he had decided to bring together the worlds of science and poetry to create a new kind of nonfiction. In it, the reader would be transported as in poetry to a world of the author's impressionistic perceptions and imagination. The reader would say, "I felt like I was there."

But at the same time, an experience of real life and true scientific revelation would overlay the essay. The reader would also say, "I never realized that." And would be enlightened.

After thirty years of research and experimentation, he brought those elements together in Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why. That book created a genre, much imitated, and has remained a consistent best seller since its publication in 2003.

Along the way, his unique style of journalism won him many awards, including two National Magazine Awards and the Montaigne Medal.

Another achievement in his pursuit of this new approach to factual writing was Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival. The first complete reconstruction of the fatal crash of a modern airliner, it was called "A kind of miracle" by Michael Korda and "a new masterpiece" by Richard Rhodes. It represented a landmark in journalism, penetrating an unseen and deadly realm of our daily lives, never before revealed, to demonstrate the beating heart of human compassion within.

His most recent novel is Lucy. His most recent nonfiction book is Isolato: An Intimate Portrait of Cormac McCarthy