On my desk I have three screens, synchronized to form a single desktop. I can drag items from one screen to the next. Once you have that large display area, you'll never go back, because it has a direct impact on productivity.

I usually think of the digital revolution in terms of reducing the costs of transferring information. For people like me, whose work is basically intellectual and not heavily dependent on personal contacts, the effect is wholly positive. The older, conventional means of collecting, communicating, and manipulating information were very inferior. It's also enabled me to work at home. . . . I'm a very fast writer. I can write 20, 30 manuscript pages in an evening. I do revisions later, but I find it more efficient to get something down that indicates where the gaps in my thinking are, and what research has to be done, and so on.

I read my e-mails, but I don't write any. I'm a Neanderthal -- I don't even type. I do have the rudimentary capability of calling up some Web sites, like the New York Times online, that sort of stuff. No laptop. No PalmPilot. I prefer my schedule on notecards, which I keep in my jacket pocket.