It seems as though the sun rose with the intention of undoing my dislike of the Silicon Valley. The weather has been cool and bright, the flowers are brilliant (blue, red, pink, gold), and my meetings have been exciting.

I have often felt that my vision for reference publishing–for transformational publishing–was either of no interest to people or a farfetched pipedream. But that’s not so, in the Silicon Valley. People I’ve talked to, at Stanford and the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, have both an understanding of what the future demands of publishers, and a genuine appreciation of knowledge. (More on the Institute for the Future coming soon.)

I drove to San Francisco this afternoon to meet Robin Wolaner, a well-known magazine publisher whose new book, Naked in the Boardroom, is a wonderful and useful read. The hills were deep green against feathery clouds or golden grassy slopes spotted with wildflowers as I drove north from Palo Alto, and I wondered why I have remembered this area–where I grew up–as dreary, over-developed, and deadly dull. Not all of it, obviously.

David, who booked my motel on the web, happened to choose a motel in Mountain View with what is said to be the best Indian restaurant in the Bay Area in the scrubby shopping center next door. Life is beautiful!