THE IT LIST: BOOKS

THOMAS CAHILL
Best-Selling Scholar

Age 58 Why him? He made history popular again, proving with How the Irish Saved Civilization that fifth-century monks could attract a blockbuster audience. His new book, The Gifts of the Jews—a study of how the Old Testament invented Western culture—has been on the best-seller list for the last two months. Work habits For Gifts, the Irish Catholic Cahill enrolled in rabbinic school, even learning Hebrew in a summer course. Alas, he was far from the best student: "When you're in your 50s, your mind isn't the sponge it once was," he has said. He wrote Civilization in the evenings, while he was still director of religious publishing at Doubleday. Dream project Making the adventures of St. Patrick into a feature film. Next? Five more installments in his projected seven-volume Hinges of Historyseries.

A. SCOTT BERG
The Biographer

Age 48 Why him? He charmed Anne Morrow Lindbergh into opening her family archives for the first in-depth biography of her aviator husband (due out this fall). Work habits Writes seven days a week, 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Breaks only to watch The Young and the Restless, read newspapers, and practice yoga. Next? Berg's reputation as biographer (Max Perkins: Editor of Genius) convinced Steven Spielberg to buy the movie rights to Lindbergh sight unseen.

NICK HORNBY
Pop Penner

Age 41 Why him? Broke the crust off English fiction with his pop-culture-savvy chronicles of male commitment phobia, High Fidelity and About a Boy. Work habits Smokes "3,000 Silk Cuts a day"; plays solitaire on his Mac; lives and works three blocks from his beloved Arsenal soccer stadium. Weirdest career moment "Being played by a sex symbol [Pride and Prejudice's Colin Firth]in the movie of Fever Pitch," his 1992 soccer memoir. Next? John Cusack is attached to star in High Fidelity, and Hornby's writing an original screenplay "about a musician on tour who goes missing."

MARK CRILLEY
Cult Cartoonist

Age 32 Why him? His indie comic Akiko features a spunky fourth-grader on a variety of wondrous adventures in the world of Smoo (she's Oz's Dorothy with a cyberpunk attitude). Work habits "I sometimes come up with major plot twists minutes before working them into the final comic." Creative crutches Sushi and British beer. Weirdest career moment Hunting around a parking lot with Mad magazine's Sergio Aragones, realizing that even a famous cartoonist sometimes forgets where he parked the car. Next? A six-issue Akiko miniseries called "Bornstone's Elixir."