Sound Stories. Sound Voices.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
You are on the KUOW archive site. Click here to go to our current site.

Jon Ronson Discusses His Wacky Experiences In Journalism

Alexio's pics
/
Flickr

Journalist Jon Ronson has interviewed a wide array of interesting characters, ranging from the hip-hop duo, Insane Clown Posse, to a man who tried to split the atom in his kitchen. Ronson is the bestselling author of "The Psychopath Test" and "The Men Who Stare at Goats."

Ross talks to him about his new book, "Lost at Sea," where he discusses his journalistic endeavors and demonstrates just how intriguing the human race can be, for example, local vigilante Phoenix Jones.

Here's his account of shadowing Jones during an encounter with crack dealers.

He took me to Belltown at 3 o’clock in the morning to break up a gang of crack dealers. And I’ve got to say it was terrifying. These 15 to 20 crack dealers were all: “What are you doing coming here in your superhero costume to try and break us up? This might be fun and games for you, but it’s not for us. And if you don’t get off our block, we’re going to kill you,” they said to Phoenix. Well -- it was actually more of a concern for me because Phoenix, at least his super-suit is bulletproof. I just had a T-shirt and a cardigan on.