Books

Clinical neurology professor and doctor Oliver Sacks is the author of six books about his patients, people with autism, Parkinson's Disease, Tourette's Syndrome, and other neurological disorders. Sacks was portrayed by Robin Williams in the 1991 film version of his book "Awakenings." His other books include "A Leg to Stand On," and "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." His newest is "An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales," which tells the stories of the disorders of seven of his subjects.

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews the new book, "Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s" by Ann Douglas, a critical look at cultural figures from the jazz age.

Commentator Gerald Early reviews "The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes," edited by the poet's biographer, Arnold Rampersad.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The Washington Post, David Maraniss. He's just completed a new biography of President Clinton, "First in His Class." In researching the book, Maraniss interviewed more than 400 people, including Clinton's friends, relatives, and colleagues. One reviewer writes, "the portrait of Mr.

Professor Nicholas Negroponte's new book "Being Digital" explores the future of new information technology and how it will challenge today's perceptions of the future. Ten years ago, Negroponte created the now famous and innovative Media Laboratory at MIT. He believes a fundamental change in how we live is coming with the newest computer technologies. He is also a popular columnist for Wired Magazine.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews two new murder mysteries: the London-set "Original Sin," by P.D. James and "Cranks and Shadows" by K.C. Constantine, which takes place in post-industrial Pennsylvania.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Wedding," by Dorothy West, one of the last surviving members of the Harlem Renaissance.

Steven Levy is an expert on computer technology, a Fellow of the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center in New York, and a columnist for the magazine "Macworld." His new book is "Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer that Changed Everything."

Chong is the author of "The Concubine's Children." It's a history of her family, beginning with her grandmother, May-Ying, a concubine brought to Canada by Chong's wealthy grandfather. May-Ying had two daughters in China, and Chong's mother in Canada -- three sisters who hadn't met until Chong persuaded her mother to take the trip to China when she was writing this book. "Publisher's Weekly" says "this superbly told saga of family loyalties and disaffections reads...like a novel."

Rudnick wrote the movies "Jeffrey" and "Addams Family Values." His alter-ego is Libby Gelman-Waxner, "Premiere" magazine's film critic, who "The New York Times" described as "a guerrilla movie fan, happily throwing brickbats and valentines at the screen." Rudnick has published a new book of Libby's best columns, called "If You Ask Me."