nicholson baker. [applause] >> thank you. i heard a little chirp come from my computer. it was like the beat of a hospital heart monitor, except that there was only one. it was software telling me that an email had arrived, and then a second later there appeared fading and a little ghostly rectangle down in the right hand corner, which named the center of the mellon david subject line. it was a man and i did not know very well, who had sent me many e-mail's about his political opinions and his health troubles. the subject line which appeared and then faded,. it said something incomprehensible that was not in english, but was in some horrible language of euphemism. it said, condolences on updikes passing. i thought, passing? what does that mean? are we talking about death, about the death of john updike? he is not dead. he is very much in the middle of things. he has just had a book out, as always, as would always be true. but i checked, and is said he had been sick and apparently had very politely, and without making any sort of public scene, without any forewarning to p

[applause] >> thank you, nicholson baker. the next person is a richer and recovering basketball star and was a golf buddy of john updike's for many years. under the name samuel shem, he wrote the turley bustling story of medical school called "house of god." god." he also, with his wife, wrote a play that will never die, i think, about the founders of alcoholics anonymous. his newest book is a novel called "the spirit of the place ,"and it has won awards. jocks know things about jocks, i look forward to what steve is going to tell us. >> thank you. this is a short story of a long friendship. john was the second writer i ever met. it was 1979. my personal had come out. he was 46, i was 34. we met at the house of the two riders. my first impression was clouded by nervous awe, but it was summer, and our conversation turned to golf. a week later, i was out on a public golf course packed with beer swilling guys whose wings were converted from hockey. there had been a mistake and we were able to buy some, a six sum, actually. anoth