Craig A. James

Before embarking on a college career, Craig James spent four years as a sailing instructor, boat builder, machinist, and carpenter, and had several deep-sea sailing adventures. These taught him the value of craftsmanship, the satisfaction that comes from quality work, and what it means to have real responsibilities. He also figured out that laboring in the hot sun can make college quite attractive. Born and raised in California, James graduated from the University of California, Davis with a degree in electrical engineering, and some years later earned his master's degree in Computer Science from Stanford University, specializing in computational linguistics and artificial intelligence. It was while at Stanford studying artificial intelligence that James got his first inspiration to write a book. In 2010 James' first book, "The Religion Virus: Why We Believe in God," was published by O-Books of London. James became a prolific blogger and wrote over five hundred articles about religion, morality, politics and related topics. In addition to his writing, James is an accomplished amateur guitarist, a tolerable clarinet player, a deep-sea sailor, and father of three. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking and bicycling the beautiful beaches and mountains Northern California.