JEFF BEZOS
founder of Amazon.com, promises he'll hand deliver books to his one-millionth customer.
Blood Music, by Greg Bear.
"I spent many summers on my grandfather's ranch in a small town in southwest Texas, and for some reason science fiction made up almost a third of the fiction section at the local library. To this day, I am a huge fan, in part because SF opens my mind to change. It's a great practice ground for the real change that occurs in life."
Engines of Creation, by K. Eric Drexler.
"Most of my knowledge of nanotechnology comes from reading Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, which is a great book, but I wanted a more factual exploration. I'm a big believer in the future of nanotech as laid out by Drexler. Many reasonable people think that this stuff is impossible. But so many 'impossible' things have happened over time that the weight of historical evidence comes down on the side of people that say 'maybe.'"
Undaunted Courage: Merriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, by Stephen E. Ambrose.
"We live in a time when almost all physical exploration is contrived. Instead of searching for the source of the Nile or exploring the American interior, we're relegated to stunts like trying to be first to circle the world in a balloon. In contrast, exploration in nonphysical realms is becoming more fantastic."
MICHAEL DERTOUZOS
the director of the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, is the author of What Will Be*.*
History of the Peloponnesian War, by Thucydides.
"The most impressive books that I have had are Greek. I am Greek, and that culture figures big in my thinking. Thucydides's book is about much more than war. It is about human nature. The book includes descriptions of every type of person. I have yet to meet a human being who doesn't behave the way he describes."
Ascetics, by Nikos Kazantzakis.
"This incredible slim book (it's no more than 50 pages) by the author of Zorba the Greek is virtually unknown. I read it in Greek and am not sure that it has even been translated. It is a philosophical book on the duties of human beings - what we owe to our parents, what we owe to our children. Through your blood flows the blood of your ancestors - but what does that mean? He doesn't say trite things; they are very deep."
Various catalogs.
"I like to read them because they tell you what humanity is thinking about. I'm interested in the link between technological capability and human need. I know about technology from my work and from reading magazines. Catalogs tell you about human needs - what people are buying. I read the computer catalogs, office supply catalogs, boating catalogs, and craft catalogs. I believe in breadth."
EDWARD TUFTE
a professor at Yale University, is the author of the influential information-design series that includes Visual Explanations and Envisioning Information.
A Pattern Language: Towns Buildings, Construction, by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein.
"Showing patterns for designing one's house, office, community, and - implicitly - one's life, this book has been at my bedside for 20 years. I've built several Alexandrian patterns, including 'bed alcove' and 'pools and streams.'"
Database Backed Web Sites: The Thinking Person's Guide to Web Publishing, by Philip Greenspun.
"This is required reading in my seminar on information design: a wise book on Web design and technical matters by an author with a good eye in addition to good programming skills."
Nikon F5 Instruction Manual.
"At my bedside for weeks now, this 166-page manual struggles to describe a wonderfully contraptionary new camera. I had trouble at first, stumbling over the index, which has no entry for 'rewind.' (Try 'Film, Rewinding Film,' stupid.) But after practicing with the camera, I'm now able to understand quite a bit of the manual."
Fish: The Complete Guide to Buying and Cooking, by Mark Bittman.
"One of the best technical manuals around; so far every recipe has worked."
STREET CRED
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