James Essinger is a freelance writer and British author of numerous financial and business management books, but may be best known for his book about the evolution of English language and spelling, Spellbound: The Improbable Story of English Spelling and his popular science book on the history of computing, Jacquard"s Web.
Education
Born in Leicester (5 September 1957), Essinger was educated at Wyggeston Boys" School, Leicester (now Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College) and studied at Lincoln College, University of Oxford, where he obtained an Master of Arts in English Language and Literature. Although a competition-level chess player, Essinger chose to focus on his academic career rather than entering the world of professional chess.
Career
After University, Essinger went to Finland where he taught English and became fluent in Finnish. Since 1984, Essinger has been a freelance reporter and prolific writer of books, articles and other publications. Essinger is a co-manager of the Canterbury Literary Agency, and is the owner of Da Vinci Public Relations, a Puerto Rico consultancy company which he founded in 2001.