Dr. Matt Cook is an economist, Los Angeles Times bestselling author, award-winning symphonic composer, and executive film producer based in Los Angeles. He tells stories through writing, music, magic, and numbers. His most recent work, the Braveship Symphonic Suite, was honored with a Hollywood Music in Media Award. His latest novel, Mr. 2, is in development with Sony Television. His book Sleight of Mind (2020) from MIT Press, a nonfiction book on paradoxes in math, physics, and philosophy, was named among the “Top 10 Best Philosophy of Physics Books of All Time” by Book Authority and translated internationally. For his support of the military as creator of the international Mile-Long Yellow Ribbon Project, Matt was honored with the President’s Call to Service Award in person by President George W. Bush and has been invited to the White House multiple times. In 2010 Matt cofounded United States Common Sense, formerly the country’s premier government data transparency organization. A close-up magician trained at the Magic Castle, Matt has performed in Hollywood and across the globe in more than 170 countries and territories, from rural gypsy homesteads of Romania, to Ugandan mountain villages, to the street markets of Mongolia in the coldest of winters. Matt earned his B.A. and M.S. at Stanford University and his doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania as an NSF Scholar. His hobbies include aviation, scuba, and travel. A PADI Divemaster and pilot of land and sea planes, he delights in weaving exotic locales into his stories.