Meeting Walter Isaacson

Yesterday I met Walter Isaacson, the author of the new book, Einstein. He walked into my store because he wanted to autograph his book. On the announcement that he was there, I ran up the stairs to see him because I was in awe of his recent and previous book accomplishments.

So there I was with him, handing him his books to sign, and asking him about his process of writing. He answered everything very politely, and engaged me in conversation outside of his own accomplishments. We talked a little of Israel, of Cokie Roberts, of radio programs, and of basketball. As he was leaving, he invited me to attend a tv interview that night that he was doing a the JCCSF, and that he would put a ticket aside for me in my name so I wouldn't have to pay for it. Even more amazing, he told me just to come whenever I was done playing basketball so I wouldn't have to skip my regular game on Thursdays.

And I did. About 8:45pm, I arrived and I saw the last 30 minutes of his interview. When he was done with that, I met him again as he was signing books for the audience, and he seemed generally enthusiatic that I showed up, even as he was being completely swarmed by the eager fans surrounding him.

Before I met Isaacson, the only thing I knew about him was that he wrote two well received biographies on Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin. If I had known that he was a Harvard graduate, a former managing editor of Time magazine, and the CEO of CNN, then I'm not sure I would have approached him with any of the enthusiasm and non-chalance that I did. I guess sometimes ignorance is a good thing.

Now playing On the Record (Disney musical)