Bryn Barnard is an author, illustrator, teacher and speaker.  He began his freelance illustration career as an artist for NASA, Time-Life, Scientific American and National Geographic. In 2003, he wrote and illustrated Dangerous Planet: Natural Disasters That Changed History. Other books include Outbreak: Plagues That Changed History and The Genius of Islam: How Muslims Made the Modern World. Barnard graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Berkeley and studied illustration at Art Center College of Design. As a fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs, Barnard did field research on visual communication in Southeast Asia. He has also been a Fulbright fellow in Malaysia.