CHARLES PANATI, a former physicist and for six years a science editor for Newsweek, is the author of many non-fiction and fiction books, including six works on "origins." He's considered the country's leading authority on the origins of just about everything. 

He has made a life out of exploring origins. Researching his own family, he learned that he is not a "Panati" by blood, but through his father's adoption. His obsession with getting to the roots of things gave him a second family: the Hudsons of Kilbaha, Country Kerry, Ireland. 

Listen to Charles Panati read from his national bestseller, The Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. 

Browse Penguin Putnam's biography of Charles Panati