Nathan Myhrvold

"Myhrvold first made his name in technology: he became the first chief technology officer of Microsoft after the company acquired his software firm in 1986, and remained there until 1999. His scholarly credential run far and wide, from degrees in math­e­mat­ics, geo­physics, and space physics from UCLA (he started college at 14) to a doctorate in physics from Princeton University earned at 23 and studies with Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University in England and at La Varenne Cooking School in France. Before , he spent two years as a at Rover’s in . He has also functioned as chief gastronomic officer for . He has nurtured his love of food and science-inspired cooking techniques thanks to numerous travels to the world’s best restaurants, which allowed him to get to know many of their s. The publication of ' is the culmination of many years spent researching, writing, photographing, and editing, and even launching his own publishing company, so that the book would correspond exactly to his standards. The Main Course recently spoke to Myhrvold about the book and how he made it happen, helped by co-authors Chris Young and alumnus Maxime Bilet and a large team at the Cooking Lab."

"... I was interested in cooking long before I even knew there was a computer. ... I started, I think when I was nine years old — I discovered s at the local library. And I announced to my mother that I was going to cook , all by myself. So I got this armload of cookbooks, and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn't that great by my current standards, but it wasn't such a disaster that it turned me away from the topic."

"... Find something you really love. ... Don’t be afraid to change your mind if you find that you really love something else more. ... It really helps if you can find people who are supportive."

"Myhrvold, whose favortie adjective is "cool," does not conform to the Microsoft stereotype, although he has a master's degrees in geophysics and and also in mathematical economics, and a doctorale in and mathematical physics. His seem endless: he is an amateur (hence the dinosaurs, a cosmologist, a zoologist, an environmentalist, a , a and , a driver, a er, a , a , a , and an . He is an accomplished , too."

"The cost of carrying will weigh heavily on ers of all sorts. successully beat small town merchants because they created a vastly more efficient warehousing, ordering and inventory carrying system, driven largely by a superior . A 'virtual Wal-Mart' which presents goods directly to customers on the Internet, or via in physical store loactions, could extend this model even further."

"The twilight of the twentieth century is driven by a mixture of technology and resources very like that which drove nineteenth-century America. This time, it is and software rather than and steel. Instead of s, we have a that links us as the railroads did, but at the speed of light. And, once again, this change is being driven by people from around the world, making possible an unprecedented level of economic growth. Workers may start out sewing , but chip plants and more diverse enterprises will eventually follow. In the nineteenth century, you had to cross an ocean to find economic opportunity, freedom from repression, or a respite from famine. The pioneers of the twenty-first century can stay put—their diaspora is to cyberspace. Still, we may not be able to gauge the real impact of the information revolution for fifty or sixty years more. Consider our cities, which in many cases have been transformed into artifacts of industrialization. Will large numbers of people begin to telecommute and, in that way, return to a pastoral America? Or will the cities somehow become even more necessary to our lives? Technomania, like its industrial equivalent in 1897, is a reminder that all this lies just beyond our knowing. What has happened already is bound to be very small in comparison to what lies ahead."

"A true Modernist revolution in food has begun only recently, as s such as began consciously developing gastronomic experiences that transform meals into dialogues between chef and diner. Avant-garde cooking emphasizes novel, unconventional presentation of familiar flavor themes—the by evoking diners’ memories of past meals while taking the dishes in novel directions. A meal at or other Modernist restaurants often exposes conventions that guests do not even realize exist until the innovative food violates them. Like other good art, Modernist cuisine is challenging and provocative. Dozens of chefs around the world are now advancing this culinary movement as it follows a trajectory that is similar, in many ways, to the Modernist transformations of other cultural disciplines. Like those predecessor movements, Modernist cuisine has faced some resistance and criticism. But it has arrived."

"Technology contains no inherent moral directive—it empowers people, whatever their intent, good or evil. This has always been true: when , the ancient world got s and awls, but also swords and s. The novelty of our present situation is that modern technology can provide small groups of people with much greater lethality than ever before. We now have to worry that private parties might gain access to weapons that are are as destructive as—or possibly even more destructive than—those held by any . A handful of people, perhaps even a single individual, could have the ability to kill millions or billions. Indeed, it is possible, from a technological standpoint, to kill every man, woman, and child on earth. The gravity of the situation is so extreme that getting the concept across without seeming silly or alarmist is challenging. Just thinking about the subject with any degree of seriousness numbs the mind."