David Owen

David Owen has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1991. He is the author of “ Volume Control: Hearing in a Deafening World.”

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What Happens to All the Stuff We Return?

the world of business · August 21, 2023

Online merchants changed the way we shop—and made “reverse logistics” into a booming new industry, David Owen writes.

On Air with the Greatest Radio Station in the World

labor of love dept. · August 23, 2021

WPKN-FM—on which you can hear a Stevie Wonder song performed by an all-women jazz septet or twenty minutes of Tuvan throat singing—moves to a new location in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut, David Owen writes.

Hands Across America

annals of health · March 4, 2013

The rise of Purell.

The Psychology of Space

annals of architecture · January 21, 2013

Can a Norwegian firm solve the problems of Times Square?

The Chosen One

profiles · August 21, 2000

PROFILE of pro golfer Tiger Woods, 24... In a sport in which good players seldom peak before their thirties, and often remain competitive at the highest …

Taking Humor Seriously

profiles · March 13, 2000

David Owen’s 2000 Profile of George Meyer, whose comedic sensibility has thoroughly shaped the “The Simpsons” since its première, in 1989.

OPENING WINDOWS

profiles · December 2, 1991

PROFILE of Kenny Schaffer. Writer describes him as an exhippie, radio-hobbyist, engineer, inventor, publicist, entrepreneur, rock-star, manager, salesman, …