Description

When Rob Faulkner and Howie Becker, two sociologists who were
also experienced professionals in the music business, decided to
write something about this other part of their lives, they lived
at opposite ends of the North American continent: Faulkner in
Massachusetts, Becker in San Francisco. They managed the
cooperation writing a book requires through e-mail. Instead of
sitting around talking, they wrote e-mails to each other.

And so every step of their thinking, the false steps as well as the
ideas that worked, existed in written form. So, when Franck Leibovici
asked them to contribute something which showed the "form of
life" that supported their work, they (helped along by a timely tip
from Dianne Hagaman), they sent him the correspondence.

The result is one of the most complete and revealing records of
scientific collaboration ever made public. And one of the most
intimate pictures of the creative process in all its details that
anyone interested in that topic could ask for. Investigative writing
is not only about formulating chains of rational ideas (as the usual
format of scientific articles would like us to believe), but also mixes
plays on words, stories, and arguments in new arrangements.