I had a chance to meet journalist/author Robert Caro in 1984, and that day still ranks high on my list of most exciting brushes with great writers. His book on Robert Moses remains one of the classic modern political biographies. The NYT Magazine profile‘s description of him describes the guy I remember meeting nearly 30 years ago: “He’s a shy, soft-spoken man with old–fashioned manners and an old-fashioned New York accent (he says “toime” instead of “time” and “foine” instead of fine), so self-conscious that talking about himself makes him squint a little. The idea of power, or of powerful people, seems to repel him as much as it fascinates.”