World Affairs Council of Northern California San Francisco, CA Jun 11th, 2008 Fluent in Arabic, he has had unrivaled access to U.S. military commanders, Sunni insurgents, Shiite militias, Iraqi families, and even President George W. Bush. Engel, who reported as a freelance journalist for ABC News during the initial US invasion of Iraq, was NBC News' lead Iraq correspondent from 2003 until his appointment to Beirut Bureau Chief in May 2006. He joins the Council to discuss his experiences as a reporter in Iraq and his new book War Journal - My Five Years in Iraq - The World Affairs Council of Northern California
Judith Levine talks about Not Buying It: My Year without Shopping.
Shocked by the commerce in everything from pet cloning to patriotism, frightened by the downward spiral of her finances and that of the trash-strewn earth, Judith Levine enlists her partner, Paul, in a radical experiment: to forgo all but the most necessary purchases for an entire year.
Without consumer goods and experiences, Judith and Paul pursue their careers, nurture relationships, and try to keep their sanity, their identities, and their sense of humor intact. Tracking their progress - and inevitable lapses - Levine contemplates need and desire, scarcity and security, consumerism and citizenship. She asks the Big Questions: Can the economy survive without shopping? Are Q-tips necessary? NOT BUYING IT is the confession of a woman any reader can identify with: someone who can't live without French roast coffee or SmartWool socks but who has had it up to here with over-consumption and its effects on the earth and everyone who dwells there. For the humor and intelligence of its insights, the refreshment of its skepticism, and the surprises of its conclusions, NOT BUYING IT is sure to be on anyone's list of necessities. Levine is also the author of "Harmful to Minors," "My Enemy, My Love" and "Do You Remember Me?" - Codys
Harvard's Berkman Center, Google, and the Family Online Safety Institute hosted this discussion featuring Professor Jonathan Zittrain previewing his forthcoming book "The Future of the Internet - And How To Stop It" with a response by Professor Larry Lessig and an introduction by Google's own Vint Cerf. This event took place at Google's Washington, D.C. office on March 20, 2008
Jeffrey Kluger visits Google's Cambridge, MA office to discuss his book "SIMPLEXITY: Why Simple Things Become Complex (and how Complex Things Can Be Made Simple)." This event took place on June 4, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. In Simplexity, Time senior writer Jeffrey Kluger shows how a drinking straw can save thousands of lives; how a million cars can be on the streets but just a few hundred of them can lead to gridlock; how investors behave like atoms; how arithmetic governs abstract art and physics drives jazz; why swatting a TV indeed makes it work better. As simplexity moves from the research lab into popular consciousness it will challenge our models for modern living. Jeffrey Kluger adeptly translates newly evolving theory into a delightful theory of everything that will have you rethinking the rules of business, family, art—your world. Jeffrey's other work includes Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, on which the 1995 movie Apollo 13 was based, and the critically acclaimed Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio.
Peter Sagal visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book "The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (and How to Do Them)." This event took place on July 23, 2008, as part of the Authors@Google series. Somewhere, somebody is having more fun than you are. Or so everyone believes. Peter Sagal, a mild-mannered, Harvard-educated NPR host—the man who put the second "L" in "vanilla"—decided to find out if it's true. From strip clubs to gambling halls to swingers clubs to porn sets—and then back to the strip clubs, but only because he left his glasses there—Sagal explores exactly what the sinful folk do, how much they pay for the privilege, and exactly how they got those funny red marks. He hosts a dinner for three of the smartest porn stars in the world, asks the floor manager at the oldest casino in Vegas how to beat the house, and indulges in molecular cuisine at the finest restaurant in the country. Meet liars and rich people who don't think consumption is a disease, encounter the most spectacular view ever seen from a urinal, and say hello to Nina Hartley, the only porn star who can discuss Nietzsche while strangers smack her butt. With a sharp wit, a remarkable eye for detail, and the carefree insouciance that can only come from not having any idea what he's getting into, Sagal proves to be the perfect guide to sinful behavior. What happens in Vegas—and in less glamorous places—is all laid out in these pages, a modern version of Dante's Inferno, except with more jokes. Peter Sagal (www.petersagal.com) is the host of Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me!,™ the NPR ™ news quiz. He is also an award-winning playwright, occasional screenwriter, onetime extra in a Michael Jackson music video, former staff writer for a motorcycle magazine, and a regular contributor to "The Funny Pages" in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Sagal lives near Chicago with his wife and three daughters. This is his first book.
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