If a painter is ahead of his time, his work won't sell particularly well while he's alive. If an architect is ahead of his time, his work probably won't exist at all — not in built form, at least.

The history of the printed word is full of bibliographic twists and turns, major historical moments, and the significant printing of books now so obscure no one has read them since their publication.

I’ve always admired people who can successfully navigate what I refer to as “Kafka’s Castle,” a term of dread for the many government and corporate agencies that have an inordinate amount of power ove...