This collaboration began one autumn afternoon in University Hall at Harvard University, where Stephen was dean of social science. Among his responsibilities was running his laboratory in the psychology department and being associate psychologist in the Department of Neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Wayne was no stranger to Harvard, having graduated from the college and written two earlier books about pioneering researchers at the Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, a Harvard affiliate.
Stephen was looking for a writing partner to help bring his new Theory of Cognitive Modes to a wide readership. Wayne was intrigued by the theory and the underlying science, and by the contention that the popular left brain–right brain story was just that, a story; like many people, he had assumed it was natural law. But he was hardly convinced that Stephen, a clear writer as well as a scientist, needed anyone’s assistance. Stephen begged to differ; he felt that he could write clearly but had no idea how to write for a general audience. That initial meeting led to a longer session another day in Stephen’s other office, on the eighth floor of William James Hall—a session that was followed by dinner. There, scientist and writer agreed this would work.
It did work—and it was work, a lot of it, spanning many months and eventually a continent, when Stephen left Harvard for Stanford (and, then, more recently, for the new university being born in San Francisco, as part of Minerva Project), leaving Wayne in New England. The authors met several times, in New York and elsewhere, but the book evolved primarily around hundreds of emails and telephone conversations—and, of course, the solitary writing. Back and forth went ideas, which led to outlines, which became drafts, which became more drafts, which through editing became the book you are reading. There were spirited debates over word choice and sentence selection, and weightier discussions of substance and nuance, and what was “too much” science to include and what was “too little”—that is, there were questions of balance. All of this suggests that we both frequently were operating in Mover Mode—with occasional forays into Stimulator thinking. And truth be told, there were also times when Stephen transitioned into professorial Perceiver Mode, and Wayne fell into Adaptor Mode (in dutifully editing Stephen’s prose to make it accessible and interesting).
Given that Stephen comes from the scientific world and Wayne from the public square, inevitably there were disagreements—but invariably, they were gentlemanly, and always resolved amicably. Neither of us can recall a single argument, or even a heated conversation (or email), though perhaps memory fails us. We had a common purpose and a clear sense of each other’s strengths. And although we never really discussed our collaboration as such, we really became a living example of social prosthetics: with Wayne providing the right turn of phrase when Stephen came up short, and Stephen providing the scientific expertise that Wayne lacked.
More than that, a friendship developed . . . and with it, the hope of further collaborations.
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The authors were brought together by agent Rafe Sagalyn, who represented Stephen; and Jon Karp, now Simon & Schuster publisher, who edited four of Wayne’s books, including two nonfiction narratives set in the world of medicine, while Jon was at Random House. So our joint gratitude to Jon and Rafe, for their faith in us. Gratitude, too, to Shannon O’Neill and Rebecca Sagalyn at ICM®/Sagalyn. Thanks to editor Karen Thompson Walker, who left Simon & Schuster after acquiring the book to devote her full energies to her remarkable debut novel, The Age of Miracles. Editor Karyn Marcus inherited our manuscript, and from there, she graciously and patiently guided us. Thank you, Karyn—your suggestions on structure and style were invariably on target. At Simon & Schuster, thanks also to assistant editor Nicholas Greene, former associate marketing manager Rachelle Andujar and her successors Stephen Bedford and Marie Kent, publicist Kate Gales, jacket designer Christopher Lin, interior designer Ruth Lee-Mui, copy editor Janet Byrne, indexer Judith Hancock, and counsel Emily Remes. This has been one great crew to have as partners!
We gratefully thank friends and colleagues who took valuable time to read an earlier version of this book or discuss the key ideas. Rusty Bobrow, Jon Cox, Jeffrey Epstein, Dan Gilbert, David Kosslyn, Justin Kosslyn, Steven Pinker, and Robin Rosenberg helped us enormously. Our thanking these people does not necessarily mean that they agree with the final product!
Individually, Stephen would like to thank his wife and collaborator, Robin Rosenberg (clinical psychologist extraordinaire, textbook author, and the go-to psychologist for the psychology of superheroes), and his collaborators who made this work possible, in particular William Thompson and Grégoire Borst.
Wayne extends his gratitude first and foremost to Yolanda Gabrielle, for her support and tolerance of his writing obsession—and her own insights into cognitive behavior, which spring from her profession as a therapist. At Salve Regina University he thanks Sisters Jane Gerety and M. Therese Antone, and also Kristine Hendrickson, and Jim Ludes and Teresa Haas of the Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy. He also thanks those at The Providence Journal who have supported his writing for so long: Howard Sutton, Tom Heslin, Karen Bordeleau, Sue Areson, John Kostrzewa, Tom Mooney, Bob Kerr, and Bill Reynolds. Also, his screenwriting partner, Drew Smith. And finally, thanks to Michael Prevett, his long-time Los Angeles agent and friend.