Books of the States: Tracy Kidder on Richard Todd

In his recent books, Tracy Kidder has ranged from Haiti (in Mountains Beyond Mountains) to Vietnam (My Detachment) to Burundi (Strength in What Remains, a sequel of sorts to Mountains Beyond Mountains that comes out in late August), but many of his best-known books have been set in his home state of Massachusetts, from the hardware labs of The Soul of a New Machine to the Holyoke classroom of Among Schoolchildren and the Berkshire village in Home Town. He admits a conflict of interest in his choice for a favorite Massachusetts book--the author, Richard Todd, has been his editor and friend for over 30 years--but he makes an eloquent case for Todd's only book in a lengthy literary career, The Thing Itself:

Video: Tracy Kidder on The Thing Itself

--Tom