*Janet Murray
is senior research scientist at MIT's Center for Educational Computing Initiatives and the author of* Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace.
How the Mind Works, by Steven Pinker.
"I bought this book the second it came out and read it cover to cover. I think Pinker's ideas deliver the same shock today that Darwinism brought to the 19th century. Pinker offers a tremendously smart and compelling vision of the computational theory of the mind - of the brain as computer. Ninety percent of Pinker's claims are obviously true. His theory on sexual jealousy, for example, is extremely persuasive. On the other hand, his discussion of more complex emotions is less convincing. So the book confronts us with how far we can reconcile what science tells us and what we honor about our own humanity. Explaining the human spirit is a task for the literary imagination."
The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald A. Norman.
"I'm reading through a big stack of books on computer interface design, and Norman's is the best so far. It is successful because it doesn't focus on visual design, but on human behavior. I believe modern design - especially online - is trapped by visual thinking when, in fact, it's not strictly a visual medium. What you really have to think about is the interaction."
*Lee Silver
a molecular biologist at Princeton University, published the controversial* Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, by Douglas Adams.
"Adams has not been given the respect he deserves. This wonderful book is more nuanced than lots of science fiction. It questions the limits of technology and the interactions between technology and society."
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley.
"I love good science fiction - by authors who understand science and recognize that technology interacts with society and vice versa. Although Huxley saw this interaction clearly, he got the politics wrong. He envisioned a world in which society would control reproduction and one world government would control everything. In reality, society's hold on people has been demolished. Individual freedom has become enhanced. Technology gives people greater control."
Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress.
"Kress delves into social issues, asking whether society should take care of those less fortunate. It is set in a future in which people with money can genetically engineer their children. It is really the same old story of class struggle, but whereas class used to be defined by birthright and money, in this future it's defined by genetics."
*Tom Rielly
is chair and CEO of PlanetOut, an online community of gays and lesbians at* www.planetout.com/.
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, by William Styron.
"The book grew out of a Vanity Fair essay he wrote several years ago. It's a poetic, lyrical illumination of what it is like to suffer from severe depression. Ultimately, however, it is an optimistic account - a call to action."
My Vast Fortune: The Money Adventures of a Quixotic Capitalist, by Andrew Tobias.
"Tobias is best known as the author of The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need. Finance is probably the most boring topic on earth, but this funny financial memoir is really worth reading. Interestingly, Tobias is also the true author of Best Little Boy in the World - a classic novel about coming out of the closet."
Life Outside, The Signorile Report on Gay Men: Sex, Love, Family, and the Passages of Life, by Michelangelo Signorile.
"What Signorile does so well is get the gay community to discuss uncomfortable issues such as body image and the use of steroids. The Signorile report is a fascinating account of life inside the circuit-party scene. Adherents view these parties as tribal rituals that bring people closer to each other, while detractors view them as bacchanalian weekends of drug abuse and unsafe sex."
STREET CRED
Smooth in the Crud Speedpass Gas
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