For years, my work has involved diving deep into complex realities. Whether that means untangling the history of our food safety networks or investigating the unpredictable science of sleep, I have found myself drawn to the same central theme in every narrative nonfiction project. It is the persistent human tendency to build elaborate systems that do not quite work the way we intended. We crave control. We want the ledger to balance.
That fascination is exactly what pulled me into the world of...