Bob Garfield's Genius Dialogues on Kickstarter

Bob Garfield, the original adcritic, host of "On the Media" at NPR and author of at least a half-dozen books has a kickstarter campaign up now. They're seeking help to make Bob Garfield's "Genius Dialogues" with MacArthur's 'Genius' Grant Recipients available as multimedia ebooks/shows. Conversations with the people whose ideas are shaping our future, presented by Bob.

I asked Bob Garfield What sparked the idea for you to want to make the Genius Dialogues? and he explained:

I happened upon one of the MacArthur Fellows-- it was an offhand mention at a conference -- and I couldn't understand why the name was new to me. It got me thinking: these remarkable people doing phenomenal things, and mainly I only know about them because they get a windfall out of the blue. The more I looked into it, the more I realized there are inspiring, sometimes mindblowing stories to tease out and share. Hence: The Genius Dialogues. Simultaneously, I'm trying to create a whole new publishing platform: part e-book, part audio-book, videos and stills, a la carte or by subscription -- all in one file. That's the main product, but I'm carving out excerpts, too, and distributing them free on large websites (Slate, Huffington Post), podcasts and radio broadcasts. It's a whole freakin' ecosystem, is what it is.

"The genius is the ability to conceptualize, it is the ability to keep an open mind. It's a questing way of looking at the world." ~Bob Garfield

If you pledge $500 you can have lunch with a genius in New York, and for a mere $25 you get your own copy of the inaugural Genius Dialogue multimedia eBook. On the Kickstarter site several names weigh in on the project:

"The first Genius Dialogue is with the man who invented Captcha, a technology I hate with every fiber of my being. I wanted to hate him, too. But it was riveting, and he charmed me. This project is going to roar."
~Gene Weingarten, Washington Post