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But everything he needs, his library and his pencils, is right here, so why go farther?
My life is very calm, just the way I like.
He says real Jews dont like nature.
Gottlieb joined Simon & Schuster in 1955 and eventually became editor-in-chief, then ran Alfred A. Knopf.
Then it was back to Knopf.
Even at 91, he continues to work on occasional projects as an editor-at-large.
Turn Every Pageattempts to answer some of them.
According to Gottlieb, it has always been thus.
He was very wary about revealing himself, he says of Caro.
that was too invasive a question.
Her father was easier to crack.
Anything she wants is hers by definition, he says.
Caro was a broke formerNewsdayreporter when he started work onThe Power Broker,his megalithic study of Robert Moses.
They set about trimming it by a third, but the finished book is still 1,200 pages.
It won the Pulitzer Prize and is in its 66th printing.
Caro was not going to be limited by single volumes after that.
I dont see anything while hes writing, Gottlieb says.
If he has any idea when the book will issue from Caros Smith Corona, he isnt saying.
(Gottlieb himself uses a Mac.)
According to Gottlieb, these contretemps barely count.
The men did allow Lizzie to film them working together side by side but only with the sound off.
This hands-on, cheek-by-jowl editing, once rare, is now basically extinct.
Publishing has grown more and more corporate, he says.
I think its all changing.
Luckily, I dont have to deal with any of that.
Yet he remains chipper and uncynical, certain that Americans are still avid readers like him.
(Avid Readeris the title of his memoir.)
I ask him if he was able to resist the impulse to give a shot to edit his daughter.
We had one disagreement about the film, he says.
I suggested she put an exclamation point at the end of the title.
Because, to me,Turn Every Pageis an exhortation.
Its here to take advantage of, he says about his editorial guidance.
If its not an advantage to you, forget it.
Just to be safe, this article includes not one semicolon.
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