I'm proud to be included in the new volume Everything I Need To Know I Learned From A Children's Book, edited by Anita Silvey, in which "more than 100 leaders from the arts, sciences, politics, business and other fields recall a children's book they loved, and its impact on their lives." I'm particularly humbled to be in the company of so many of my heroes-- folks like Alison Gopnik, Pete Seeger, Steve Wozniak, Ursula K. Le Guin, Anne Tyler, Maurice Sendak and Andrew Wyeth. Proceeds from this book benefit children's literacy programs in the USA.
What was your favorite book as a kid?
Hands down: It was Centerburg Tales: More Adventures of Homer Price by Robert McCloskey. My favorite story in this collection was “Ever-So-Much-More-So,” about a magical chemical that increases the intensity of all sensations and actions: “quiet becomes quieter, fast becomes faster” and so on. It got really interesting when the residents of Centerburg began eating the stuff, thereby causing their personality traits to become that much more exaggerated. I credit this story with sparking my nascent interest in mental function, sometime during elementary school.