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BEHIND THE BYLINE

John Tierney

By Ellen Belcher

Dayton Daily News

John Tierney, who succeeded William Safire as a columnist at The New York Times in March 2005, joined that newspaper in 1990. A self-described libertarian, he has written for its magazine, and he also was a Washington correspondent. In 2003, he worked from Baghdad.

Among his pieces that have captured wide attention was a 1990 article, "Betting the planet," describing a wager between the economist Julian Simon and the ecologist Paul Ehrlich (author of The Population Bomb, who had to pay up) over whether the world would run out of natural resources.

Upon becoming a columnist, Tierney told The Washington Post, "I don't like to make people angry for the sake of being angry, but I want to challenge people's assumptions."

Regarding his politics, he said, "My gut feeling is that most people outside the Beltway can solve most of their problems without guidance from us."

In 1996, he wrote "Recycling is garbage," provoking a mountain of criticism. One reader mailed him trash.

Tierney is the author of The Best-Case Scenario Handbook, which The Hartford Courant called "divinely deadpan." It provides "helpful illustrations about what to do when instances of unbelievable good luck come your way," the review said.

To wit: "How to respond when, after 10 years (and $80,000), your therapist announces, 'You're cured.' (Tip: 'Ask your therapist, "How does that make you feel?")."

He also is a co-author, with Christopher Buckley, of the self-help parody, God Is My Broker: A Monk Tycoon Reveals the 7 1/2 Laws of Spiritual and Financial Growth. And he wrote The Crisis Crisis.

Occasionally given to stunts, a shabbily dressed Tierney tried to sleep outside the homes of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rosie O'Donnell when they were criticizing New York City's then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani for cracking down on the homeless.

Frequently provocative and unpredictable, Tierney, who takes up for free markets and personal initiative, has suggested privatizing Central Park. Interested in science, technology and economics, he graduated from Yale University where he majored in American Studies.

Born in 1953, he is married and has one child.