The Price of Everything - Eduardo Porter [117]
Acknowledgments
I HAVE BEEN writing for a living for two decades. Never before did writing seem to be such a quest. As with any great adventure, the success of this book relied on a large cast of characters.
I couldn’t have started without the help—sometimes inadvertent, involuntary, even posthumous—of economists, psychologists, and even the occasional biologist, demographer, and sociologist.
Some of these scholars were particularly generous. In no particular order, I would like to thank Monica Dasgupta and Vijayendra Rao of the World Bank, Robert Frank from Cornell, Claudia Goldin and David Laibson from Harvard, and Justin Wolfers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, who patiently talked me through some of their work and helped me grasp sometimes difficult concepts.
But my gratitude extends to the hundreds of scientists who have offered their lives’ work to understanding some of the bigger questions about humanity: how do we choose between our options? Why do we behave the way we do? I built this project upon their insights and discoveries.
I am grateful to the team at Portfolio. Adrian Zackheim saw promise in this project before I knew where it would lead. He and Courtney Young provided sharp and concise advice along the way and a deft editing touch at the end. Will Weisser and Maureen Cole provided marketing and publicity expertise. And I thank Lance Fitzgerald for pushing this book around the world, so it can be read in many places I have never been. Jason Arthur and Drummond Moir at RH/Heinemann in London were wonderfully supportive.
I will be always grateful to Cressida Leyshon, Steve Fishman, Adam Cohen, Nick Kristof, and Charlie Duhigg, who read portions of the book—providing much needed advice and helping steer me back to coherence when my writing lost its purpose and my ideas went astray. And I thank Tim Sullivan, whose patient ear and sound counsel helped me craft a jumble of thoughts into a coherent idea. Beyond the rather substantial help of my friends, I relied on the able work of some sharp research assistants: Avi Salzman, Miriam Gottfried, April Rabkin, and Alejandra Pérez Grobet. If there are any errors in this book, it is nobody’s fault but my own. There would be more if not for the eagle eye of three great fact checkers—Joshua Friedman, Susan Kirby, and Jane Cavolina.
I would also like to thank all my colleagues at the New York Times, in the newsroom and on the editorial board. It is a privilege to work with them every day. I owe special gratitude to my boss, Andy Rosenthal, whose forbearance allowed this book to happen.
Some superspecial thanks are in order: First of all to my mother, who has always been there, through thick and thin, ready to provide the sort of unconditional love and encouragement that only mothers can. This book happened only because of the persistence of my old friend and agent, Zoë Pagnamenta, who not only believed I had a book in me but helped me figure out what it was about. She has been a doggedly enthusiastic advocate for this book and an indispensable guide, always ready to provide needed directions to navigate the seas of publishing. I also thank Simon Trewin of United Agents in London.
Most of all, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my family, who had to bear with me as I reorganized my life and theirs around my exciting new adventure. Gisele, my wonderful wife, not only agreed to be a sounding board, providing thoughtful advice and reassurance through the uncertain early stages of the book, she gamely shouldered new burdens so