Note: not recommended
Josh Piven is a New York Times best-selling writer; an award-winning speechwriter; a television writer and producer; a playwright; and the author or co-author of more than twenty-five non-fiction and humor books, including the worldwide best-selling Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series (Chronicle Books). With 10 million copies in print in 30ish languages, Worst-Case is the best-selling survival manual--and series--of all time.
He's also very modest.
Other books include This Green House (Stewart, Tabori, and Chang), As Luck Would Have It (Villard), and The Escape Artists (McGraw-Hill). His first stage play, a holiday farce called No Reservations, had its world premiere in November-December, 2013, to great success and critical acclaim. More information. His most recent play was 2016's Muddled. The 20th Anniversary Edition of Worst-Case is out and going gangbusters, the card game is killing it, and the museum exhibition continues. More information.
Josh likes to refer to himself in the third person.
Mr. Piven (as he's known at the doctor's office) is perhaps best known for his famously tongue-in-cheek worst-case books (co-authored with Dave Borgenicht) books that offer readers real-world (though often hilarious) advice on surviving worst-case situations that they might—but hopefully won’t—encounter: everything from “how to fend off a shark” and “how to wrestle an alligator” to “how to avoid the Freshman 15” and “how to determine if your date is an axe murderer.” One reviewer said of the series: “We’ve finally found the WMDs: The Worst-Case books are Weapons of Mass Distraction!”
Based on both pop-culture and Piven’s own vast stores of paranoia, the advice in the books, while real, is filled with wit and wry humor. In fact, the advice comes not from the author but from hundreds of experts whom the author seeks out and interviews. While the scenarios themselves often seem outlandish (“how to cross a piranha-infested river,” “how to survive a stadium riot”) the advice is accurate, and offers readers their best chance of survival. The Worst-Case Scenario books have appeared on numerous best-seller lists, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Times of London. They have been translated into 24 languages.
Back in the day, Piven co-created and sold an original, hour-long prime time television series, based on his books, for Columbia Tri-Star Television. The books were also turned into a Discovery Channel TV series starring survivalist and all-around cool dude Bear Grylls. A film adaptation may be coming soon!
USA Today has called Piven’s narratives “thrilling” and says that “reading the bad-luck stories is like witnessing a car crash in slow motion.” He has also written two novels that are so intellectually intimidating that publishers are afraid to touch them.
Now considered an expert on a broad range of survival topics, Piven has appeared on The Today Show, 20/20, and ABC World News, as well as on local news broadcasts in virtually every major media market in North America, and many foreign countries.
With more than 10 million copies in print since November 1999, the Worst-Case Scenario book series became the fastest-selling how-to book series in the history of publishing. Merchandise based on the series includes desktop calendars, note cards, holiday cards, board and video games, an iPhone app, a survival journal, and T-shirts. He’s hoping for a Josh Piven action figure, but so far, nothing.
Piven is an honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania—and living proof that English majors aren't necessarily failures. He has appeared on the following national television programs:
ABC News
ABC World News Tonight
CNN
CNN Newsnight with Aaron Brown
Fox News
Fox & Friends
BBC
CBC (Suzanne Dufresne)
BNN (Kristy March)
20/20
Dateline
The Today Show (5x)
The Montel Williams Show (2x)
Rivera Live
The Today Show (Australia)
Canada AM (4x)
Print media:
The New York Times (John Tierney, Charles McGrath, Danny Hakim, Martin Arnold)
LA Times (Dana Calvo, Gale Holland)
The Wall Street Journal (Anna Prior)
Washington Post (Judith Collins, Janelle Erlichman, others)
Philadelphia Inquirer (Diana Marder, Patrick Joseph, Michael Klein)
Philadelphia Daily News (Rose DeWolf)
People Magazine (Matt Birkbeck)
USA Today (Jacqueline Blais)
Chicago Tribune (Marja Mills)
The Oregonian (Eric Collins)
The Globe and Mail (Dermot Purgave)
The New Yorker
Business 2.0
Newsweek
Time Magazine (Lisa Cullen)
Entertainment Weekly
Variety
Hollywood Reporter
Cosmopolitan
Men’s Health
Visit his author page at Amazon
He's also very modest.
Other books include This Green House (Stewart, Tabori, and Chang), As Luck Would Have It (Villard), and The Escape Artists (McGraw-Hill). His first stage play, a holiday farce called No Reservations, had its world premiere in November-December, 2013, to great success and critical acclaim. More information. His most recent play was 2016's Muddled. The 20th Anniversary Edition of Worst-Case is out and going gangbusters, the card game is killing it, and the museum exhibition continues. More information.
Josh likes to refer to himself in the third person.
Mr. Piven (as he's known at the doctor's office) is perhaps best known for his famously tongue-in-cheek worst-case books (co-authored with Dave Borgenicht) books that offer readers real-world (though often hilarious) advice on surviving worst-case situations that they might—but hopefully won’t—encounter: everything from “how to fend off a shark” and “how to wrestle an alligator” to “how to avoid the Freshman 15” and “how to determine if your date is an axe murderer.” One reviewer said of the series: “We’ve finally found the WMDs: The Worst-Case books are Weapons of Mass Distraction!”
Based on both pop-culture and Piven’s own vast stores of paranoia, the advice in the books, while real, is filled with wit and wry humor. In fact, the advice comes not from the author but from hundreds of experts whom the author seeks out and interviews. While the scenarios themselves often seem outlandish (“how to cross a piranha-infested river,” “how to survive a stadium riot”) the advice is accurate, and offers readers their best chance of survival. The Worst-Case Scenario books have appeared on numerous best-seller lists, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and The Times of London. They have been translated into 24 languages.
Back in the day, Piven co-created and sold an original, hour-long prime time television series, based on his books, for Columbia Tri-Star Television. The books were also turned into a Discovery Channel TV series starring survivalist and all-around cool dude Bear Grylls. A film adaptation may be coming soon!
USA Today has called Piven’s narratives “thrilling” and says that “reading the bad-luck stories is like witnessing a car crash in slow motion.” He has also written two novels that are so intellectually intimidating that publishers are afraid to touch them.
Now considered an expert on a broad range of survival topics, Piven has appeared on The Today Show, 20/20, and ABC World News, as well as on local news broadcasts in virtually every major media market in North America, and many foreign countries.
With more than 10 million copies in print since November 1999, the Worst-Case Scenario book series became the fastest-selling how-to book series in the history of publishing. Merchandise based on the series includes desktop calendars, note cards, holiday cards, board and video games, an iPhone app, a survival journal, and T-shirts. He’s hoping for a Josh Piven action figure, but so far, nothing.
Piven is an honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania—and living proof that English majors aren't necessarily failures. He has appeared on the following national television programs:
ABC News
ABC World News Tonight
CNN
CNN Newsnight with Aaron Brown
Fox News
Fox & Friends
BBC
CBC (Suzanne Dufresne)
BNN (Kristy March)
20/20
Dateline
The Today Show (5x)
The Montel Williams Show (2x)
Rivera Live
The Today Show (Australia)
Canada AM (4x)
Print media:
The New York Times (John Tierney, Charles McGrath, Danny Hakim, Martin Arnold)
LA Times (Dana Calvo, Gale Holland)
The Wall Street Journal (Anna Prior)
Washington Post (Judith Collins, Janelle Erlichman, others)
Philadelphia Inquirer (Diana Marder, Patrick Joseph, Michael Klein)
Philadelphia Daily News (Rose DeWolf)
People Magazine (Matt Birkbeck)
USA Today (Jacqueline Blais)
Chicago Tribune (Marja Mills)
The Oregonian (Eric Collins)
The Globe and Mail (Dermot Purgave)
The New Yorker
Business 2.0
Newsweek
Time Magazine (Lisa Cullen)
Entertainment Weekly
Variety
Hollywood Reporter
Cosmopolitan
Men’s Health
Visit his author page at Amazon