Dolnick is an American writer, once a science writer for the Boston Globe.

He has been published in the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine and the Washington Post, among other publications.
His books include Madness on the Couch: Blaming the Victim in the Heyday of Psychoanalysis, Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon, and The rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece.

He lives in the Washington D.C. area, is married and has two children.