michiko kakutani

Publishers have been eager to sign famous people to book deals. If you're a musician ready to reveal a great deal about yourself (such as Rolling Stone Keith Richards), the chances are very good those deals will pay off handsomely.

Power lists are, by their nature, kind of stupid. The idea that something as subjective as influence can be empirically measured and rank-ordered is inherently contentious: Lists are meant to provoke arguments, not agreement. But some power lists are stupider than others. And perhaps the...