Kevin Kelly is a writer, editor, and speaker who has had a diverse career exploring the intersection of technology, culture, and business.
In the early days of the internet, Kelly co-founded Wired magazine in 1993 and served as its Executive Editor until 1999. He helped to shape the magazine's coverage of technology and digital culture, and his writing and editing helped to establish Wired as a leading voice in the field.
After leaving Wired, Kelly continued to write and speak about technology and its impact on society. He has written several books, including "Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, &amp; the Economic World" and "What Technology Wants," which explore how technology shapes our world and our future.
In recent years, Kelly has been a sought-after speaker and advisor on technology and its impact on society. He has spoken at conferences and events worldwide and advised companies and organizations on navigating the rapidly changing technological landscape. Kelly is also a co-founder of the All Species Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to cataloging and identifying every living species on earth. The Long Now Foundation focuses on long-term thinking and responsibility.
Overall, Kelly's career has been dedicated to understanding how technology shapes our world and helping others understand and navigate those changes.

Kevin

Michael David Keighley Baxandall, FBA (18 August 1933 – 12 August 2008) was a British art historian and a professor emeritus of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught at the Warburg Institute, University of London, and worked as a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. His book Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy was profoundly influential in the social history of art and is (2018) widely used as a textbook in college courses.
Baxandall was born in Cardiff, the only son of David Baxandall, a curator who was the one-time director of the National Gallery of Scotland. He went to Manchester Grammar School and studied English at Downing College, Cambridge, where he was taught by F. R. Leavis. In 1955 he departed for the Continent. He spent a year at Pavia University (1955–56), then taught at an international school in St. Gallen in Switzerland (1956–57), and finally went to Munich to hear the art historian Hans Sedlmayr and where he worked with Ludwig Heinrich Heydenreich on the court of Urbino at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte.&nbsp;
On his return to London in 1958, he began a long association with the Warburg Institute, initially working in the photographic collection, where he met Kay Simon, whom he married in 1963. From 1959 to 1961, he was a junior fellow, working on his never-completed Ph.D., Restraint in Renaissance behavior, under Ernst Gombrich. From 1961, he was Assistant Keeper in the Department of Architecture and Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, returning to the Warburg Institute in 1965 as a lecturer in Renaissance Studies.&nbsp;
He was appointed to a chair by the University of London in 1981 but increasingly spent his time in the United States. He was A. D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University and became a half-time Professor of the History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1987. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1991. He was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford from 1974–75.
His book Giotto and the Orators was published in 1971. This was followed in 1972 by Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy, now considered a classic of art history, in which he developed the influential concept of the period eye. These were followed by The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany (1980), Patterns of Intention (1985), Tiepolo and the Pictorial Intelligence (1994, with Svetlana Alpers), Shadows and Enlightenment (1994), and Words for Pictures (2003).&nbsp;
In all his work, Baxandall was concerned with illuminating artworks by a thorough exploration of the conditions of their production – intellectual, social, and physical. In Limewood Sculptors, this took the form of using "carvings as lenses bearing on their own circumstances." Despite his impact on "social" art history, Baxandall often retreated from Marxist or overly "contextual" approaches. At one point, he declared that he was just "trying to do Roger Fry...in a different way," and he often cited the impact of Heinrich Wölfflin's book Classic Art.
Baxandall died in London from pneumonia associated with Parkinson's Disease. His concept of the period eye has continued to gain importance since his death.

Michael

Mahatma Gandhi, also known as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was a political and spiritual leader of India who was the primary leader of India's non-violent, non-cooperative independence movement against British colonial rule. He was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, a coastal town in present-day Gujarat, India.
Gandhi was educated in Britain, where he studied law and became a barrister. After returning to India, he struggled to establish a successful law practice but eventually found work with an Indian firm in South Africa. It was during his time in South Africa that Gandhi first began to develop his philosophy of non-violent resistance, which would later become the cornerstone of his political and spiritual beliefs.
In 1915, Gandhi returned to India and quickly became involved in the Indian independence movement. He led nationwide campaigns for various social causes and for achieving Swaraj or self-rule. He became a major leader of the Indian National Congress and was at the forefront of the Non-Cooperation Movement and the Salt Satyagraha. He was arrested many times by the British government for his activities and spent a total of over 7 years in prison.
Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence and civil disobedience was deeply influenced by his Hindu and Jain spiritual beliefs, as well as the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, and other religious figures. He believed that non-violence was the only way to achieve political and social change, and he encouraged his followers to use non-violent means to resist British rule. He also advocated for the abolition of caste discrimination, the upliftment of the untouchables, the promotion of Hindu-Muslim unity, and the end of poverty.
Gandhi's philosophy and tactics of non-violence and civil disobedience had a profound impact on the Indian independence movement and on the world at large. His ideas influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, and his legacy continues to inspire people around the world to this day. He was assassinated on January 30, 1948, by a Hindu nationalist who opposed his policies of non-violence and religious tolerance.
In India, Gandhi is widely considered to be the Father of the Nation, and his birthday, October 2nd, is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday. He is also remembered and celebrated globally as an icon of non-violent resistance and civil rights. His teachings and life philosophy still continue to inspire many people around the world to fight for their rights and freedom peacefully.
In addition to his political activities, Gandhi was also a writer and journalist. He wrote extensively on a wide range of topics, including politics, religion, social issues, and his own personal thoughts and experiences. He wrote several books, including "An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth" and "Hind Swaraj," which is considered a classic of Indian political thought. He also edited several newspapers, including "Young India" and "Harijan." Through his writing, Gandhi was able to reach a wide audience and spread his message of non-violence, civil disobedience, and social reform.
Gandhi's life and work were not without controversy. While many people admired him and followed his philosophy, others criticized him for being too moderate and for not doing enough to end British rule. He also faced criticism from some members of India's Muslim community for not doing more to protect their rights and interests. In addition, his stance on caste and his criticism of traditional Hindu practices such as Untouchability also faced criticism from some sections of society.
Despite this, Gandhi's legacy continues to inspire people around the world. He is remembered for his commitment to non-violence, his belief in the power of ordinary people to bring about change, and his willingness to stand up for what he believed in, even in the face of adversity. His ideas and tactics have been used in civil rights and freedom movements around the world, and his life and work continue to be studied and admired by people of all ages and backgrounds.

Mahatma

Ray Dalio is a renowned American investor, businessman, and philanthropist. He is the founder, chairman, and co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, a global investment management firm. He is considered one of the most successful investors of all time, with a net worth estimated at over $18 billion in 2020.
Dalio began his career as a Wall Street trader and quickly rose to prominence in the financial world. He started Bridgewater Associates in 1975 with just $5,000 in the capital. Since then, the firm has become one of the world's largest and most successful hedge funds, managing over $150 billion in assets.
Dalio is one of the most influential figures in the world of finance, having been featured on the cover of Time magazine, Fortune magazine, and numerous other publications. He is a sought-after speaker at conferences and events and has been featured in documentaries and films.
Dalio's investment philosophy is based on the concept of "radical transparency," which emphasizes the importance of open and honest communication. He is also a strong proponent of "principled decision-making," which focuses on understanding the underlying principles that drive decisions.
Dalio is a strong advocate for philanthropy and has donated over $1 billion to charities and non-profits. In addition, he has founded and funded several organizations, including the Dalio Foundation, which supports education, health, and economic opportunity initiatives.
Dalio's influence extends beyond the world of finance. He has written several books about his life and career, including Principles: Life and Work, which has become a bestseller. He has also created an online course called Principles for Success, which offers guidance on how to achieve success in life and work.
Dalio has earned numerous awards and honors for his work in business and philanthropy, including being named to the Forbes 400 list of wealthiest individuals in the world and being inducted into the American Academy of Achievement. In 2017, he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for his dedication to promoting economic and social progress. He also serves on the boards of several organizations, including the Robin Hood Foundation and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Yusef Komunyakaa (born April 29, 1947) is an American poet who teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.&nbsp;
He also received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Komunyakaa received the 2007 Louisiana Writer Award for enduring contributions to the poetry world. His subject matter ranges from the general black experience through rural Southern life before the Civil Rights time period and his experience as a soldier during the Vietnam War.
After his service, he attended college at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, where he was an editor for the campus arts and literature publication river run, to which he also contributed. He began to write poetry in 1973 and took the name, Yusef Komunyakaa. He earned his M.A. in Writing from Colorado State University in 1978 and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine, in 1980.&nbsp;
After receiving his M.F.A., Komunyakaa began teaching poetry in the New Orleans public school system and creative writing at the University of New Orleans. Komunyakaa taught at Indiana University until the fall of 1997 when he became an English professor at Princeton University. Yusef Komunyakaa is a professor in the Creative Writing Program at New York University.

Yusef

Daniel Pink is an award-winning author and speaker whose books on business and professional success have sold millions of copies in dozens of countries and been translated into over 35 languages. His latest book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, is a deep dive into the science of timing.
Pink has written six books, including four New York Times bestsellers. His first book, Free Agent Nation, set off a national debate on the changing nature of work and was praised by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. His second book, A Whole New Mind, predicted the rise of right-brain thinking in the workplace and spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list.&nbsp;
His third book, Drive, a No. 1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, explored the science of motivation and revealed the surprising truth about what really drives us to succeed. His fourth book, To Sell is Human, looked at the changing nature of sales, and was named one of the best books of the year by Amazon, Apple, and the Financial Times. His fifth book, When, is a deep dive into the science of timing.&nbsp;
As well as writing books, Pink is a leading business speaker and consultant. He has been described by the American Management Association as “one of the most influential business thinkers in the world,” and millions of people around the world have watched his talks. He has advised a range of leading organizations, including the United States and British governments, Microsoft, Pixar, and the NFL.&nbsp;
Pink has also been a contributing editor at Wired, a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph, and a frequent commentator on National Public Radio. He was a top-ranking student at Northwestern University, where he won a Goldman Sachs Global Leadership Award, and he holds a degree in philosophy from Yale University.&nbsp;
Pink’s books have been praised by a wide range of business, academic, and political leaders. Former U.S. President Barack Obama said of Pink’s book Drive, “It’s a book that every leader in America should read.”&nbsp;
Daniel Pink’s books, talks, and consulting services have inspired millions of people around the world. He is widely recognized as one of the leading authorities on business, motivation, and success.

Daniel

Maria Popova is a writer, entrepreneur, and cultural critic known for her work as the founder and editor of the popular website Brain Pickings. Brain Pickings is an eclectic website that features interesting and thought-provoking articles, essays, and books on a wide range of topics, including literature, philosophy, science, and art. Popova began Brain Pickings as a personal project in 2006, and it quickly gained a large following. Today, the site receives millions of visitors each month and has been praised for its unique perspective and curatorial approach.
Popova has also written for a number of publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Wired. In addition, she has been a speaker at various conferences and events, discussing topics such as creativity, productivity, and the intersection of technology and culture. Popova has also been honored with several awards for her work, including the Webby Award for Best Cultural Blog and the National Endowment for the Arts NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Creative Writing.
In addition to her work on Brain Pickings, Popova is also the author of "Figuring" which is a book that explores the lives and works of some of the most fascinating and accomplished figures of the last four centuries, from Jane Austen and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Marie Curie and Martin Luther King Jr.
Popova continues to write, curate, and publish her works on her website and in various publications, making her an influencer in literature and culture.

Maria

Winston Churchill was a British statesman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, leading Britain through its darkest hour during World War II.
Churchill was born in 1874 and was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. He began his career in the British Army and later transitioned into politics, serving as a Member of Parliament for over 60 years. He held several government positions throughout his career, including as the First Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of Munitions, and Secretary of State for War.
During World War II, Churchill served as Prime Minister and played a key role in leading Britain through the war. He made powerful speeches that rallied the nation and inspired the British people to keep fighting, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. His speeches are widely considered to be some of the greatest in history, with phrases such as "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never" and "We shall fight on the beaches" becoming famous.
One of Churchill's greatest achievements as Prime Minister was his strong alliance with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Together, they led the Allied powers to victory over Nazi Germany.
After World War II, Churchill served as Prime Minister again from 1951 to 1955 but was defeated in the general election. He remained an active Member of Parliament until 1964 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his six-volume memoir of the war. He died in 1965 at the age of 90.
Churchill's legacy continues to this day, with many seeing him as a symbol of leadership, courage, and determination in the face of adversity. He is often ranked as one of the greatest British Prime Ministers, and his speeches are still studied and admired by people all over the world.
Winston Churchill was a prolific writer throughout his life, publishing books on a wide range of subjects. One of his most notable literary achievements is his six-volume memoir, The Second World War, which he wrote during and after the war. The work, which was published between 1948 and 1954, provides a detailed and personal account of the war from Churchill's perspective, including his thoughts and decisions as Prime Minister. The memoirs were international bestsellers and were praised for their historical accuracy and Churchill's literary skill.
In addition to his memoirs, Churchill also wrote several other books throughout his life. Some of his most notable works include:
<ul>
<li>"The World Crisis" (1923-1931): A five-volume work that covers the period of Churchill's life from 1911 to 1928 and includes his thoughts on World War I and its aftermath.</li>
<li>"My Early Life" (1930): An autobiographical work that covers Churchill's childhood and early career.</li>
<li>"A History of the English-Speaking Peoples" (1956-1958): A four-volume work that covers the history of the English-speaking peoples from the Anglo-Saxon period to the end of the 19th century.</li>
<li>"Painting as a Pastime" (1948): A book in which Churchill reflects on his hobby of painting and its therapeutic effects.</li>
</ul>
Churchill's books have been widely read and praised for their historical accuracy and literary merit. They provide valuable insights into the mind of one of the most important figures of the 20th century and continue to be studied and admired today.

Winston

Toby Lester is a writer and editor. He is the author of two best-selling books of popular history, Da Vinci's Ghost (2012) and The Fourth Part of the World (2009). He has written extensively for national publications, among them The Atlantic, Smithsonian, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The American Scholar, The Wilson Quarterly, BBC Magazine, and the London Times. His writing has also been included in several anthologies, including the New Literary History of America (2009).&nbsp;
Lester today works primarily as an editor. He serves part-time as a senior editor for Harvard Business Review but also regularly edits books and articles as a freelancer. Recent books he has worked on include T, by Carole Hooven (2021); Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds, by Paul Farmer (2020); The Shadow Drawing, by Francesca Fiorani (2020); The Age of Living Machines, by Susan Hockfield (2019); In Hoffa's Shadow, by Jack Goldsmith (2019); The Happiness Curve, by Jonathan Rauch (2018); The Founder's Mentality, by Chris Zuk and James Allen (2016); and Our Kids, by Robert Putnam (2016). Lester also periodically teaches editing at Boston College and has served as a thesis advisor for MIT's graduate science journalism program.
Between 1995 and 2006, Lester worked for The Atlantic in a variety of editorial capacities: as a staff editor, as the executive editor of the website, as a senior editor, and as the managing editor. He has also served as the editorial director of Boston (2012-2013), the editor of Country Journal (2000-2001), and the executive editor of DoubleTake (1999-2000).&nbsp;
Prior to 1995, Lester worked in international relief and development. From 1992 to 1994, he monitored intifada-related activity in the West Bank as a UN refugee-affairs officer; from 1990 to 1992, he helped establish Peace Corps programs in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union; and from 1988 to 1990, he taught English in Yemen as a Peace Corps volunteer. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1987 with degrees in English and French and now lives in the Boston area with his wife and three daughters.
Lester comes from a family of writers. His father, James Lester, was a member of the first successful American Everest expedition and is the author of Too Marvelous for Words (1994), the only biography of the jazz pianist Art Tatum. His mother, Valerie Lester, is the author of, among other works, Giambattista Bodoni: His Life and His World (2015); Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens (2004), a biography of her great-great-grandfather, Hablot Knight Browne, who was Charles Dickens’s principal illustrator; and Fasten Your Seat Belts: History and Heroism in the Pan Am Cabin (1995). His one sibling, Alison Jean Lester, is the author of the novels Yuki Means Happiness (2017) and Lillian on Life (2015) and the short-story collection Locked Out: Stories Far from Home (2006).&nbsp;

Toby

Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Katavolos) and George Andrew Sarris, and grew up in Ozone Park, Queens.&nbsp;
After attending John Adams High School in South Ozone Park (where he overlapped with Jimmy Breslin), he graduated from Columbia University in 1951. Then he served for three years in the Army Signal Corps before moving to Paris for a year, where he became a friend of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Upon returning to New York's Lower East Side, Sarris briefly pursued graduate studies at his alma mater and Teachers College, Columbia University, before turning to film criticism as a vocation.
After initially writing for Film Culture, he moved to The Village Voice, where his first piece—a laudatory review of Psycho—was published in 1960. Later he remembered, "The Voice had all these readers—little old ladies who lived on the West Side, guys who had fought in the Spanish Civil War—and this seemed so regressive to them, to say that Hitchcock was a great artist." Around this time, he returned to Paris, where he was present at the premiere of French New Wave films such as Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player (1960) and Godard's A Woman Is a Woman (1961).&nbsp;
The experience expanded his view of film criticism: "To show you the dividing line in my thinking, when I made a Top Ten list for the Voice in 1958, I had a Stanley Kramer film on the list, and I left off both Vertigo and Touch of Evil". He wrote film criticism regularly until 2009 for The New York Observer. He was a film professor at Columbia University (where he earned an M.A. in English in 1998), teaching courses in international film history, American cinema, and Alfred Hitchcock until his retirement in 2011.&nbsp;
Sarris was a co-founder of the National Society of Film Critics. Sarris is generally credited with popularizing the auteur theory in the United States and coining the term in his 1962 essay, "Notes on the Auteur Theory," which critics writing in Cahiers du Cinéma had inspired. Sarris wrote the highly influential book The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 (1968), an opinionated assessment of films of the sound era organized by the director.&nbsp;
The book would influence many other critics and help raise awareness of the role of the film director and, in particular, of the auteur theory. In The American Cinema, Sarris lists what he termed the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States: the Americans Robert Flaherty, John Ford, D. W. Griffith, Howard Hawks, Buster Keaton, and Orson Welles; the Germans/Austrians Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch, F. W. Murnau, Max Ophüls, and Josef von Sternberg; the British Charles Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock; and the French Jean Renoir.&nbsp;
He also identified second—and third—tier directors, downplaying the work of Billy Wilder, David Lean, and Stanley Kubrick, among others. In his 1998 book You Ain't Heard Nothing Yet: The American Talking Film, History and Memory 1927–1949, Sarris upgraded the status of Billy Wilder to the pantheon level and apologized for his earlier harsh assessment in The American Cinema.
He wrote for both NY Film Bulletin and The Village Voice for many years. During this part of his career, he was often seen as a rival to The New Yorker's Pauline Kael, who had originally attacked the auteur theory in her essay "Circles and Squares." Speaking of his long-time critical feuds with Kael, Sarris says, oddly, "We made each other. We established a dialectic."

Andrew

Walter Isaacson is an American author and journalist best known for his biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, and other iconic personalities. He is the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C.
Isaacson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1952 and educated at Harvard University and the University of Oxford. He began his career in journalism at The Sunday Times of London and then as a political writer for TIME magazine, where he served as managing editor from 1995 to 2001 and editor from 2001 to 2002.
In 2003, Isaacson published his first book, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, which was both critically and commercially successful and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography. His second book, Einstein: His Life and Universe, was published in 2007 and was a New York Times Best Seller.
In 2011, Isaacson published his biography of Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, which was a critical and commercial success. The book, which was excerpted in TIME, was optioned for a movie by Sony Pictures. In 2013, he released The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, which was a New York Times Best Seller.
In addition to his books, Isaacson has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker. He has appeared on television programs such as The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, and Real Time with Bill Maher.
Isaacson is a prolific speaker, delivering keynotes at organizations such as Google, Microsoft, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Constitution Center, the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and many others. He is a member of the American Philosophical Society and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Isaacson is also a board member of several non-profit organizations, such as Teach for America, the National Constitution Center, the Aspen Institute, and the Brookings Institution. He is a former chair of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Voice of America and other international broadcasting outlets.
In 2015, Isaacson was appointed to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology by President Barack Obama. He is also a member of the G7 Task Force on the Digital Economy.
Isaacson is a frequent contributor to various media outlets, including NPR’s Morning Edition, and he has been featured on the cover of Newsweek and TIME. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, the Henry Luce Award, the Digital Book World Award for Non-Fiction, and the World Technology Award for Media.

Walter

Neil Richard Gaiman was born on November 10, 1960, in Portchester, England. He originated from a family of Eastern European Jewish descent. His father, David Bernard Gaiman, worked at their family chain of stores, while his mother, Sheila Gaiman, was a pharmacist. In 1965 the family moved to East Grinstead, West Sussex, where Neil grew up with a profound love for reading, beginning as early as age 4.&nbsp;
Some of his favorite childhood books include J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Batman, and other comics. Gaiman received early education at various church schools, including Fonthill School in East Grinstead, Ardingly College, and Whitgift School in Croydon.
When Gaiman began to outgrow comic books in his teenage years, he realized the lack of comic books for an older mature audience. He, therefore, decided to fill the gap himself. Although he wanted to write comic books, Gaiman had little idea how to go about it. Following his graduation from high school in 1977, Gaiman became a journalist writing articles for a number of renowned publications such as the Sunday Times, the Observer, Knave, and Time Out.&nbsp;
In March 1985, Gaiman married McGrath after the birth of their son Michael in 1983. The couple had two more children, Holly and Madeleine. In 1984, Gaiman wrote his first book, a biography of the band Duran Duran. He continued writing articles and interviews in magazines under pseudonyms. However, in 1987, Gaiman waved goodbye to journalism, stating, “British newspapers can make up anything they want and publish it as fact.”&nbsp;
Also, in the late 1980s, Gaiman published Don’t Panic: The Official Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Companion. Gaiman started writing comic books, continuing the series of Marvelman after its original creator and Gaiman’s friend Alan Moore abandoned it. After his impressive work on Marvelman, Gaiman was offered to write the limited series of Black Orchard and also to re-write an old character, The Sandman. From December 1988 to March 1966, Gaiman produced work on The Sandman, which was later collected in 12 volumes.&nbsp;
More significant comic works by Neil Gaiman include The Books of Magic (1989), Lady Justice, and Mr. Hero. The Newmatic Man, Teknophage, Tales of the White Wolf, Whatever happened to the Caper Crusader, as well as contributions to Wednesday Comics.

Neil

Amanda Palmer is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and performance artist. Born in 1976 in New York City, Palmer developed a love for music and art at an early age. She began playing piano at age five and went on to study classical piano, theater, and modern dance in her youth.
In her teenage years, Palmer began writing her own songs. She went on to attend Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where she further honed her songwriting skills and earned a degree in theater. After college, she joined the Boston-based street performance duo The Dresden Dolls.
The Dresden Dolls soon gained a cult following and released two albums, The Dresden Dolls (2003) and Yes, Virginia (2006). The duo toured extensively, performing at music festivals, theaters, and clubs around the world. After the duo separated, Palmer embarked on a solo career.
Her debut solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, was released in 2008 to critical acclaim. The album featured a variety of musical styles, from piano-driven rock to cabaret-style ballads. Palmer's songs often explore personal and political topics, such as death, love, loss, and gender.
In 2012, Palmer released her second solo album, Theatre Is Evil, which was produced by John Congleton. The album was a commercial success and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. She followed it up with two more albums: There Will Be No Intermission (2019) and A Collection of Poems You Can’t Unread (2020).
In addition to her musical career, Palmer is also an accomplished writer. She has written two books, The Art of Asking (2014) and The Bedroom Tour (2020), which explore the power of human connection and the importance of asking for help. She has also written a number of essays and articles.
Outside of her music and writing, Palmer is an outspoken advocate for the rights of artists. She has been a vocal opponent of record labels and streaming services, which have been accused of taking advantage of musicians. She is a strong supporter of independent artists and has encouraged performers to take control of their own careers.
Amanda Palmer is an incredibly talented and inspiring artist. She is a gifted musician, songwriter, and writer, and her commitment to social justice and the rights of independent musicians is admirable. Her music, books, and advocacy have made a real impact on the world, and she is an inspiration to many.

Amanda

A breakout literary phenomenon and #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, Rupi Kaur wrote, illustrated, and self-published her first poetry collection, 'milk and honey' in 2014. Next came its artistic sibling, 'the sun and her flowers', in 2017. These collections have sold more than 10 million copies and have been translated into over 40 languages. Her latest poetry collection, 'home body', debuted at #1 on bestseller lists across the world. As she has done from the very beginning, Rupi self-produced Rupi Kaur Live, the first poetry special of its kind, which debuted on Amazon Prime Video in 2021.&nbsp;
Rupi Kaur has also graced the stage across the globe on world tours, performing her poetry across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the UK, Europe, and more. Intertwined with visuals, music, comedy, and anecdotes, Rupi performs her classic poems and unpublished pieces, tailoring each show to the city she visits.&nbsp;
Rupi’s work touches on love, loss, trauma, healing, femininity, and migration. She feels most at home when creating art, performing her poetry onstage, and spending time with family and friends.

Rupi

Art Spiegelman is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel Maus. His work as co-editor of the comics magazines Arcade and Raw has been influential, and from 1992 he spent a decade as contributing artist for The New Yorker. He is married to designer and editor Françoise Mouly and is the father of writer Nadja Spiegelman.&nbsp;
In September 2022, the National Book Foundation announced that he would receive the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Spiegelman began his career with Topps (a bubblegum and trading card company) in the mid-1960s, which was his main financial support for two decades; there, he co-created parodic series such as Wacky Packages in the 1960s and Garbage Pail Kids in the 1980s.&nbsp;
He gained prominence in the underground comix scene in the 1970s with short, experimental, and often autobiographical work. A selection of these strips appeared in the collection Breakdowns in 1977. Spiegelman turned the focus to the book-length Maus, about his relationship with his father, a Holocaust survivor. The postmodern book depicts Germans as cats, Jews as mice, and ethnic Poles as pigs, and it took 13 years to create until its completion in 1991.&nbsp;
It won a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992 and has gained a reputation as a pivotal work. Spiegelman and Mouly edited eleven issues of Raw from 1980 to 1991. The oversized comics and graphics magazine helped introduce talents who became prominent in alternative comics, such as Charles Burns, Chris Ware, and Ben Katchor. It introduced several foreign cartoonists to the English-speaking comics world.&nbsp;
Beginning in the 1990s, the couple worked for The New Yorker, which Spiegelman left to work on In the Shadow of No Towers (2004), about his reaction to the September 11 attacks in New York in 2001—Spiegelman advocates for greater comic literacy. As an editor, a teacher, and a lecturer, Spiegelman has promoted a better understanding of comics and has mentored younger cartoonists.
Spiegelman's parents were Polish Jews Władysław (1906–1982) and Andzia (1912–1968) Spiegelman. His father was born Zeev Spiegelman, with the Hebrew name Zeev ben Avraham. Władysław was his Polish name, and Władek (or Vladek in anglicized form) was a diminutive of this name. He was also known as Wilhelm under the German occupation and Anglicized his name to William upon immigration to the United States.&nbsp;
His mother was born Andzia Zylberberg, with the Hebrew name Hannah. She changed her name to Anna upon immigrating to the United States. In Spiegelman's Maus, from which the couple is best known, Spiegelman used the spellings "Vladek" and "Anja," which he believed would be easier for Americans to pronounce. The surname Spiegelman is German for "mirror man."

David Byrne is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American new wave band Talking Heads.
Byrne has released solo recordings and worked with various media, including film, photography, opera, fiction, and non-fiction. He has received an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award, and he is an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Talking Heads.
Byrne graduated from Lansdowne High School in southwest Baltimore County. He started his musical career in a high school band called Revelation, then between 1971 and 1972, he was one half of a duo named Bizadi with Marc Kehoe. Their repertoire mainly consisted of songs such as "April Showers," "96 Tears", "Dancing on the Ceiling," and Frank Sinatra songs. Before dropping out, Byrne attended the Rhode Island School of Design and the Maryland Institute College of Art.
He returned to Providence in 1973 and formed a band called the Artistics with fellow RISD student Chris Frantz. The band dissolved in 1974. Byrne moved to New York City in May of that year, and in September that year, Frantz and his girlfriend Tina Weymouth followed suit. After Byrne and Frantz could not find a bass player in New York for nearly two years, Weymouth learned to play the bass guitar. While working day jobs in late 1974, they were contemplating a band.
By January 1975, they practiced and played together while still working regular day jobs. They founded the band Talking Heads and had their first gig in June. Byrne quit his day job in May 1976, and the three-piece band signed to Sire Records in November. Byrne was the youngest member of the band. Multi-instrumentalist Jerry Harrison, previously of The Modern Lovers, joined the band in 1977. The band released eight studio albums to great critical acclaim and commercial success. Four albums achieved gold status (500K sales), and two others were certified double-platinum (2 million in sales). The Talking Heads were pioneers of the new wave music scene in the late '70s / early '80s, with famous and creative music videos on the fledgling MTV network.
In 1981, Byrne partnered with choreographer Twyla Tharp, scoring music he wrote on his album The Catherine Wheel for a ballet with the same name, prominently featuring unusual rhythms and lyrics. Productions of The Catherine Wheel appeared on Broadway that same year.
He was chiefly responsible for the stage design and choreography of the concert film Stop Making Sense. Byrne wrote the Dirty Dozen Brass Band-inspired score Music for "The Knee Plays," released in 1985, for Robert Wilson's vast five-act opera The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down. He wrote, directed, and starred in True Stories, a musical collage of discordant Americana, and produced most of the film's music. He was impressed by the experimental theatre he saw in New York City in the 1970s and collaborated with several of its best-known representatives.
He worked with Robert Wilson on "The Knee Plays" and "The Forest" and invited Spalding Gray (of The Wooster Group) to act in True Stories, while Meredith Monk provided a small part of that film's soundtrack. In addition, the musician provided a soundtrack for JoAnne Akalaitis' film Dead End Kids, made after a Mabou Mines theatre production. Byrne's artistic outlook has a great deal in common with the work of these artists. The same year, he added "Loco de Amor" with Celia Cruz to Jonathan Demme's film Something Wild.
His work has been extensively used in film soundtracks, most notably in collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su on Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

David

Henry

100 Great Operas is an attractive and informative resource for both casual opera enthusiasts and specialists. From La Traviata to Adas, Carmina Burana to Don Giovanni, the storylines of the world's most popular operas are described in an exciting and approachable manner.&nbsp;
&nbsp;Written by acknowledged opera scholar Henry W. Simon, the book offers act-by-act explanations of 100 operatic works, spanning from Monteverdi's early seventeenth-century masterpieces to Gian-Carlo Menotti's modern classics.&nbsp;
&nbsp;The author examines the key characters, the notable narrative twists, and the most essential arias, in addition to spotlighting the most crucial components of each opera. A variety of tales about the literary background, prior performances and stars, and production issues of the great operas may also be found here.

Eric Weinstein is an American mathematician and economist and the managing director of Thiel Capital, a venture capital firm founded by Peter Thiel. He holds a Ph.D. in mathematical physics from Harvard University and is a visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology. He is also a frequent speaker on the topics of mathematics, economics, and technology and has written books and articles on these topics.
Eric was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He attended Stanford University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics and economics, and then went on to Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. in mathematical physics. After completing his studies at Harvard, he joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology, where he is now a visiting professor.
In addition to his academic work, Eric has been a leading figure in the technology and venture capital industry. He was a founding partner at Icon Ventures and a managing partner at Thiel Capital. He has worked with Peter Thiel and other venture capitalists to invest in new technologies and business opportunities. Eric is also an expert in the field of mathematics, having published several books and articles on the topic.
In addition to his work in the venture capital industry, Eric has been a frequent speaker and commentator on a variety of topics related to economics, technology, and mathematics. He has served as a keynote speaker at many conferences, including the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He is also the host of the popular podcast the Portal, which has featured guests such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson.
Eric is a well-known figure in the technology industry and is highly respected for his knowledge and expertise. He is an active member of several professional organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the Association for Computing Machinery, and the American Mathematical Society. His work has been recognized by many awards, including the National Science Foundation's Alan T. Waterman Award and the Harvard University Levinson Prize.

Eric

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Henry W. Simon's book '100 Great Operas and Their Stories' is a fantastic resource for anyone looking to explore the world of opera. It provides a comprehensive overview of 100 of the most famous operas, giving readers a chance to understand the stories, characters, and music that make each one unique.

Understanding Opera

The book doesn't just tell you about the operas, it helps you appreciate them. Simon's detailed descriptions and analysis of the music, combined with the background stories, allow you to see the beauty and complexity of this art form. You'll find yourself wanting to listen to each opera and experience it for yourself.

Appreciating the Art

Simon doesn't just focus on the operas themselves, he also provides historical context. This helps you understand why certain operas were written and how they reflect the times they were created in. It's a great way to learn about history and culture through the lens of opera.

Historical Context

You don't need to be an opera expert to enjoy this book. Simon writes in a way that's easy to understand, making opera accessible to everyone. Whether you're a seasoned opera lover or a newbie, you'll find something to enjoy in '100 Great Operas and Their Stories'.

Accessible to Everyone

One of the best things about this book is how it inspires you to explore more. After reading about each opera, you'll want to dig deeper, listen to the music, and maybe even see a live performance. It's a great way to start or deepen your love for opera.

Inspiring Exploration

100 Great Operas and Their Stories

Henry W. Simon (1901–70) was an author, editor, educator, and music critic and served as chairman of the Music Critics Circle of New York. His other books include the Pocket Treasury of Great Operas and The Victor Book of the Opera.

Henry W. Simon

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100 Great Operas and Their Stories

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100 Great Operas and Their Stories

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