James Gleick is an American author and historian of science whose work has chronicled the cultural impact of modern technology. Recognized for his writing about complex subjects through the techniques of narrative nonfiction, he has been called "one of the great science writers of all time". He is part of the inspiration for the Jurassic Park character Ian Malcolm.

Gleick's books include the international bestsellers Chaos: Making a New Science (1987) and The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood (2011). Three of his books have been Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalists. The Information was awarded the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books in 2012. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages. According to the Wall Street Journal, "Some writers excel at crafting a historical narrative, others at elucidating esoteric theories, still others at humanizing scientists. Mr. Gleick is a master of all these skills."

Born in New York City, Gleick attended Harvard College, graduating in 1976 with a degree in English and linguistics. He co-founded a short-lived weekly newspaper, Metropolis, in Minneapolis. After its demise, he worked for ten years as an editor and reporter for the New York Times. He was the McGraw Distinguished Lecturer at Princeton University in 1989-90. With Uday Ivatury, he founded The Pipeline, a pioneering NYC-based Internet service in 1993, serving as its chairman and CEO until 1995.

He was the first editor of the Best American Science Writing series and served as president of the Authors Guild from 2017–19. He contributes regularly to The New York Review and is currently working on a new history of the telephone.