Richard Morris

• Name — Richard Morris • Born — 1939 • Birthplace — U.S. • Died — 28 August 2003 • Occupation — Writer, poet, editor • Education — University of New Mexico University of Nevada, Reno • Genre — Popular science books • Notable Works — Committee of Small Magazine Editors and Publishers Richard Ward Morris (1939–August 28, 2003) was an American author, editor, and poet. He published more than 20 books in his lifetime, many of which were written to "explain the intricacies of science to the general public". His literary style and narrative talents allowed for easy reading of what were otherwise heady and intellectual topics, bringing sometimes abstract scientific ideas to a level the common person could understand.

Morris received his MS in physics from the University of New Mexico and his PhD in physics from the University of Nevada, Reno, before he moved to San Francisco, where he started the magazine Camels Coming. In 1968, he established and became the executive director of the Committee of Small Magazine Editors and Publishers (COSMEP). It was an attempt to organize the energy of the small presses. His COSMEP newsletter guided literary magazines and underground press publications right through the Vietnam War into the Ronald Reagan era. Beginning in 1979, Morris became known to the wider world as the author of a series of mainstream science books. His literary style and narrative talents allowed for easy reading of what were otherwise heady and intellectual topics, bringing sometimes abstract scientific ideas to a level the common person could understand. He published as well poetry, fiction, and drama. He still continued publishing small press collections of poetry and drama, which were read mostly by his friends and peers; his selected poetry, Assyrians, was published in 1991 by "The Smith". The Evolutionists: The Struggle for Darwin's Soul (2002) deviated from his usual fare, but evolution and the controversies surrounding it through history had become his interest later in life. His final work, The Last Sorcerers: The Path from Alchemy to the Periodic Table, was published posthumously in 2003.