As the author of The Crash Course, Chris Martenson provides readers with the context for the massive changes now underway, following how economic growth as we've known it is ending due to depleting resources. To write the book, Martenson drew upon his expertise as an economic researcher and futurist specializing in energy and resource depletion. He has gone on to found Peak Prosperity, a website dedicated to increasing widespread understanding of the underlying causes of societal problems.

Martenson earned his Ph.D. from Duke and his MBA from Cornell.