Jonathan is a writer, record collector and public speaker, drawn to subjects where science and sound rub up against each other. His next book, The Reel Thing, tells the story of how magnetic tape quietly reshaped sound across the twentieth century; it will be published by Bloomsbury in spring 2027.

It joins The Vinyl Frontier, about the making of the Golden Record that NASA fixed to the side of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in 1977, and Into the Groove, the story of sound from tin foil to vinyl.

He is currently eavesdropping on Apollo 11, annotating the recorded talk between the spacecraft and Houston for a forthcoming book with Quarto.

Speaking & Events

Previous appearances include Apollo 50 at Goonhilly Earth Station, Port Eliot Festival, NI Science Festival, The Festival of Tomorrow, York Festival of Ideas, and Turn It Up: The Power of Music at the Science Museum (with Nemone). He has also spoken at Sherborne Literary Festival, Ilkley Literature Festival, Sidmouth Science Festival, The Catalyst Club (Brighton), Sound Effects (Brighton), Speakeasy (Worthing), The Bavard Bar (Hastings) and WI West End.

Jonathan has appeared on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, BBC Radio 6 Music (Lauren Laverne, Amy Lamé), NPR (Morning Edition), BBC Radio London (Robert Elms), TalkSport (Paul Ross) and Newstalk (The Moncrieff Show).

For booking enquiries, please get in touch: thejonoscott@gmail.com

Praise for Jonathan’s books

The Vinyl Frontier

“Bursts with gloriously geeky detail” — The Telegraph (5 stars)

“Jonathan Scott is our cheerful tour guide… and The Vinyl Frontier is our comprehensive and comprehensible itinerary” — Los Angeles Times

“Scott masters the technical details, often with a touch of humour” — The Washington Post

“Insightful, engaging, and thoroughly enjoyable, this is the sort of popular history book clubs adore” — Booklist (starred review)

Into the Groove

“An audio geek’s delight, this engrossing history of music and voice recording is as wide-ranging and thorough as one could want… Scott spins a history told with near-perfect pitch” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“A thoroughly entertaining history of how sound recordings evolved… excellent, absorbing book” — Washington Independent Review of Books

“By mixing lo-fi charm into hi-fi science Into the Groove captures all the wonder and absurdity of its subject, jumping and skipping with real analogue delight” — Sunday Times

Background

After studying archaeology at university, Jonathan worked as a reporter on a local newspaper before joining Metropolis Publishing, where he became editor of Book Collector while contributing features, interviews and reviews to the magazine’s better looking, better selling sister, Record Collector. He’s also written for every edition of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine since issue 4.

He grew up in Kent. He now lives in Sussex.