His books include Darwin's Orchestra (1997), Adam's Navel (2003), Apollo's Fire (2007), In the Womb: Animals (2009), and The Story of Charlotte's Web (2011).

Born in rural eastern Tennessee, near the small town of Crossville, Sims has described in interviews how he grew up in a household without a telephone, an automobile, or, at times, indoor plumbing.

But he developed in childhood a preoccupation with literature, art, and nature, themes that dominate his adult work.

In 2007 Viking Press published Apollo's Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination, which National Public Radio chose as one of the best science books of the year.

Sims's writing has been published in many periodicals, including the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New Statesman, Chronicle of Higher Education, Gourmet, Orion and American Archaeology.