"Among publishers it’s an article of faith that people no longer want to read books; they just want to write them. The old adage that everyone has a novel in them is being tested as never before, only this novel has turned out to be autobiographical. From television to the Internet, the confessional is rapidly becoming the de facto mode of expression. Everyone, it seems, wants to be heard. Responding to the spirit of the times, BlackBook invited a cross- section of the blazing talents and intellects in the culture to tear a page or two from their diaries or journals and give them to us: the result is a glimpse into the daily lives, concerns, and obsessions of some of the people who shape our world."