On the bookshelves of the digerati
LINDA WERTHEIMER
host, NPR's All Things Considered.
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon by Rebecca West. "This remains one of the best books on Yugoslavia. When people try to explain present disasters in terms of things that happened 800 years ago, as they do in Yugoslavia, a book that was written in 1941 is downright recent. It describes the people, the places, and the relationships, which are extremely complicated. In the early '80s, my husband and I went there. Much of what I saw is now gone."
ERIC RAYMOND
president, Open Source Initiative.
Someone to Watch Over Me by Tricia Sullivan. "Robert Heinlein is more likely to be remembered than Derrida 150 years from now. Science fiction writers care about ideas and want to explore them. The viewpoint character in this book is a martial artist who's been running errands for this person who is possessing him. The character has been distanced from his own life and has to reclaim himself. It's been some time since I've had to reclaim myself, but I can see it coming."
JOHN BIELENBERG
creative director, Bielenberg Design.
James Dean: The Untold Story of a Passion for Speed by Philippe Defechereux. "I ordered this quirky little book from Amazon. James Dean was really into racing cars, and he was driving to a race when he died. There's something meaningful to me in that. Passions are to be embraced. But at any given time in the pursuit of your passion, you can die. I don't like most things about cars, but this book is really a guilty pleasure."
JESSE BERST
editorial director, ZDNet AnchorDesk.
The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine and James Gilmore. "This is a good look at how every business is morphing into show business. In other words, if you are selling tennis shoes you need to make a NikeTown or have a Michael Jordan. No matter what you are doing, you have to understand that it's about creating a fascinating experience for the customer. Just creating a product and waiting for the world to come to your door is not going to cut it."
STREET CRED
Room Service
Organize in Stereo
A Time to GrO
Many Unhappy Returns
The Wrath of You
King of Lost Vegas
Touchscreens Are Better
Urban Legend
Music
Just Outta Beta
ReadMe
Here to Reternity
Natural Selection
Exquisite Computing
No Village Idiot
High DRAMa
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