Koos Dijksterhuis studied sociology and biology at Groningen University. After graduating in 1988 he worked in two projects for agricultural development in Pakistan. From 1994 to 1997 he was publisher/editor in an organization for the protection of the environment. Since 1997 he has been a freelance writer for journal and magazine publishers on subjects such as nature, science, development cooperation, travel and light verse. He has published five books and is now preparing a book on sanderlings, birds that migration between the high Arctic and the tropics, which will appear in 2009.