Books

Writer Howard Rheingold. Rheingold's new book, "Virtual Reality," is a look at the growing promise and impact of a radical new technology. By combining computers with sophisticated equipment (such as 3-D video glasses and gloves that sense how the wearer is moving their hands), it's possible to create the illusion that one is in another world, one that may exist only inside the computer. The technology has implications for everything from space exploration to entertainment, medicine to warfare. (The book's published by Summit Books).

Record producer and consultant Colin Escott. Escott's had a long association with Sun Records, the company responsible for many of the great acts from the dawn of rock and roll. Escott has a new book about Sun, called "Good Rockin' Tonight" (published by St. Martin's Press).

Reporter Leonard Lee. Lee's new book, "The Day the Phones Stopped: The Computer Crisis-- The What and Why of It, and How We Can Beat It," examines how our growing dependency on computers, and the growing complexity of computer programs, have led to expensive, and sometimes deadly, computer failures. Prior to becoming a journalist, Lee was a systems engineer for IBM. ("The Day the Phones Stopped" is published by Donald I. Fine).

Journalist Ron Powers. Powers new book, "Far From Home, " examines the decline of the small town in America. To illustrate the point, Powers profiled the decline of Cairo, Illinois and Kent Connecticut.

Rock critic Jimmy Guterman and editor Owen O'Donnell have a new book called "The Worst Rock 'n' Roll Records of All Time." Many of their selections are recordings made by some of the most popular artists, including the Doors, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, and the Moody Blues.

Jacobson is the executive director of the Center for Science in The Public Interest. He's one of the authors of the new book, "Safe Food." It's a guide to the dangers in what we eat. The book discusses pesticides, bacteria and other toxic substances found in food.

Perl's new book, "Gallery Going," is a collection of essays about the art world of the late 80s and 90s. He says that museums are succumbing to new pressures to generate income, which is affecting the kind of art curators choose to feature.

For more than a decade, Sciolino has been reporting on the Middle East. She was one of the few American journalists who recognized the danger of Saddam Hussein before the invasion of Kuwait. She currently is a diplomatic correspondent covering U.S. foreign policy and national security issues for the New York Times. Her new book is "The Outlaw State: Saddam Hussein's Quest for Power and the Gulf Crisis."

The travel writer has a new book called "Wall to Wall: From Beijing to Berlin by Rail." She took the trip five years ago as reforms were beginning to be implemented in the Soviet Union, and before the government crackdown in Tiananmen Square and the Eastern European revolutions. She's particularly interested in what it's like to travel abroad as a woman alone.

Millman's latest book, "Warm Hearts & Cold Cash: The Intimate Dynamics of Families and Money," is about how people use money as a tool of power and a symbol for certain emotions in family relationships. Millman is professor and chair of sociology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.