James Essinger (born 5 September 1957) is a freelance writer and British author of numerous financial and business management books, but he is better known for his non-fiction books. These include Spellbound: The Improbable Story of English Spelling and his popular science book on the history of computing, Jacquard's Web.Essinger is also the author, with Jovanka Houska, of The Mating Game, a novel set in the world of chess, and of a Young Adult thriller, Josh Moonford and the Lost City of Cantia.