The sixth in our popular Words of Wisdom series, The Inventor Says invites readers to a gathering of history's most brilliant creative minds, where inventors past and present jostle, compete, contradict, and compliment each other. Groundbreakers such as Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Ford, Ada Lovelace, the Wright Brothers, and Sejong the Great converse with the twentieth century's most ingenious tinkerers and thinkers, from Buckminster Fuller to Ruth Handler (creator of the Barbie doll), Nikola Tesla (who cuts Thomas Edison down to size for his lack of scientific discipline), and Apple's Steve Wozniak to contemporary figures like Lisa Seacat DeLuca, IBM's most prolific female inventor. These intrepid innovators discuss their childhood, inspirations, working habits, failure as a productive stage in the creative process, and much more, in a collection that will inspire readers to hatch a few brilliant ideas of their own. As Edwin Land advised: 'Don't undertake a project unless it is manifestly important and nearly impossible.'

The seventh in our popular Words of Wisdom series, The Writer Says summons readers to an intimate gathering of novelists, essayists, grammarians, academics, and journalists-a glittering cocktail party, where the guests may be self identified introverts (like Patti Smith, who writes "to set herself apart cocooned, rapt in solitude") but share their sparkling insights in this volume. Among the celebrated international guest list: Henry James and Mark Twain, squaring off about modifiers (James: pro and Twain: con); Charles Bukowski and Beverly Cleary, at odds about revision; Zadie Smith and Chinua Achebe, discussing the moral responsibilities of a writer; and Jonathan Ames and Jackie Collins, united in their desire to give readers pleasure. The Writer Says reveals the formative experiences, processes, preferences, and work habits of our most beloved writers, and will inspire readers, writers, and closet scribblers alike to follow Rick Bass's dictum: "Write every day. Don't ever stop."