Night-Table Reading

Alexandra Marinina Russian author "I read through opera librettos. In them seethe genuine human passions. I find many of the ideas for my detective novels in them."

Webster Stone co—executive producer of The Negotiator The Murder of Tutankhamen, by Bob Brier (Putnam). "The young pharaoh never knew what, nor who, hit him. Sometimes it's better not to be king."

Rob Stone co-executive producer of The Negotiator The Curve of Binding Energy, by John McPhee (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). "Nuclear primer as weapons-grade thriller. The book awakened my inner theoretical physicist."

Brian Williams anchor, MSNBC, NBC Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964, by Michael R. Beschloss (Simon & Schuster). "A chance to witness a master at work. and eavesdrop on a crucial time in our history. "