Executive Decision

Casey Roloff

What book should every businessperson be reading right now?

Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, by Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Jeff Speck (North Point Press, $19).

"This book exposes the weakening of our neighborhoods that is a direct consequence of the rise of the automobile. Instead of designing towns and cities around people, we have created places where cars can maneuver comfortably but people can't. Society has become more socially disconnected and separated because of wider streets, larger lots, misuse of open space and zoning laws that divide building types and uses. ... which in turn leaves us trapped in our cars for longer periods of time. For me, the book contributed to my quest at Seabrook to create pedestrian environments where all of your basic needs are met within a five-minute walk."

Casey Roloff, town founder and president, Seabrook Land Co.

FOR YOUR DESK

Think India: The Rise of the World's Next Superpower and What It Means for Every American By Vinay Rai and Melissa Rossi (Dutton, $25.95)

We hear a lot about China being an emerging financial power, but what about India? Already the world's 12th-largest economy, with a labor force of 509.3 million people, India is predicted by 2035 to become the globe's third-largest economy, trailing only the United States and China. The Asian subcontinent is a major benefactor of international outsourcing, an up-andcoming innovator in medicine and pharmaceuticals, and a fast-expanding manufacturing center. As international companies seek toeholds in his country, Vinay Rai, a steel manufacturer-turned-educator (he now runs one of India's two private universities), teams with U.S. author Melissa Rossi (What Every American Should Know About Who's Really Running America) to deliver an intriguing and sometimes entertaining account of how India reached this juncture, where it goes from here, and how foreign investors can benefit from India's remarkable growth.

FOR YOUR NIGHTSTAND

The Elvis Encyclopedia By Adam Victor (Overlook Press, $60)

Wow, was it really 30 years ago this month that Elvis Presley died at age 42? Author Victor digs through original sources and photographs to separate the mythical "King" from the Elvis of either starry or scandalous legend. Not always an easy thing to do. Here we find the boy Elvis, growing up in poverty; the popular Elvis, with his gold records and film roles and screaming female fans; and the personal Elvis - husband, father, a man prone to drug abuse, and eventually "a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self," as American Heritage magazine once phrased it. This is your opportunity to be "all shook up" all over again.

Lawrence and Aaronsohn: T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn, and the Seeds of the Arab-Israeli Conflict By Ronald Florence (Viking, $27.95)

They could hardly have been more different men - the debonair British soldier who would become famous for his involvement in Arab conflicts; and the Romanian-born Jewish botanist who, during World War I, set up a spy network in Palestine that helped the Allies defeat the Turks. Yet T.E. Lawrence and Aaron Aaronsohn are, in many ways, the fathers of the modern Middle East and its myriad woes. Their disputes anticipated the religious and political battles that continue to tear that region apart. With dramatic flair, Florence reconstructs these two men in fine, if not wholly sympathetic, detail.

Spook Country By William Gibson (Putnam, $25.95)

Vancouver, B.C.'s Gibson follows up his best-selling Pattern Recognition (2002) with this almost- profound tale about keeping secrets in the post-9/11 world. Heading the novel's diverse cast is Hollis Henry, an indie rocker-turnedfreelance journalist, who's assigned by a start-up Eurotrash magazine to find an elusive troubleshooter working for military equipment manufacturers. That thread, though, is tangled among plots involving a mysterious shipping container sought by a small-time New York crime family; an exclusive L.A. art trend involving virtual exhibits; and the business of information smuggling via iPods. Spook Country quietly rages at the underground world of manipulators and the innocents who accidentally get in their way.