But to prepare citizens with the minds, hearts and character to disdain or democracy in the future. Built on hope, not fear, encouragement not threat, on inspiration, not compulsion. I trust. Im releasing the dignity of the person, not devotion to data. Unsupportive mutual respect, not a machine of punishment and blame. And the last thing to revive collaboration humor, student, parents, teachers, principals, administrators and local communities. The american system is democratically controlled schools has been the mainstay of our communities and the foundation for a nation success. We must Work Together to improve public schools. They must extend the promise of equal Educational Opportunity to all the children of our nation, protecting our products goes against privatization, saving them for future generations of American Children is a civil rights issue of our time. Thank you very much. [applause] nonbook tv, molly raskin text that it had them and, and not addition to cofounded a company that specializes increasing speed and stability of the internet. The first person killed during the 9 11 attacks. He was sacked to death by terrorists on american flight 11, which was funded to the north tower. This is about 40 minutes. Thank you very much, jonah. And thank you so much for hosting this tonight. It is not only the only bookstore, but also a place that i know a lot of us come with their case brooks, to read and im very grateful for it im also grateful for the court of local writers and palate, which is really important so im honored to be here tonight. I want to thank you all for coming out on a friday night. As the second week of school for kids. Everybody is busy, so i appreciated. I want to say also that done a lot of press over the last two weeks since the book was released, which has been really great. But this is particularly special to me because so many people in this room have been a part of the process of migrating the book. I mean, im looking around seeing people who counseled me through the book proposal writing process and encourage me when i said that i could never get it done, friends who called me up to find out about how the book was doing. My hasbeens here. So many here who basically hope me get a book done. And so, its awesome to be sitting here tonight in a room full of people who have supported me along the way. I think actually a couple years ago when i moved to maplewood on the six years ago, said village coffee across the street with a lot of your having coffee and writing and working on various creative hot chicks. So its really cool to be here tonight. So i just want to share a little bit about this story that captivated me for the better part of two years. First, for those of you dont know, its a bit about me. John has given some. Ive worked in television, print and documentary film over the past 15 years. And also impossible a great story. I want to start up. I guess a lot of people who know me well wonder first how i came to write a book about a Computer Scientist and mathematician, especially those who know me well. As an english major and brighter come i dont have any background in Computer Science or math. I actually avoided all math and somehow to get through College Without taking any of it and didnt pass calculus. So the answer to that is really simple. It is the book captivated me not for the mass and not for some of the more moments obtain a fact that because of what he accomplished. If you asked me to explain algorithms today, i can give you a very broad explanation, but i still cant tell you what is at the heart of them. People who work with him still cant come as some of them. So it just gives you an idea of just how incredible the math wiz behind what im going to tell you a little bit about. So the story of danny lewin is a complex one. At first i found really difficult to capture in a character study and as a writer. Im just going to read a little bit from the preface of the book to that will give you an idea of these seemingly disparate parts of his life and what made the story in some ways for me, stranger than fiction. Danny story at the leap from the very beginning was almost more unbelievable than fiction. In the spring of 2011, a friend asked if i was interested in a job of producing an independent film tribute for the anniversary of the 9 11 attack. That frame is here, mike stoller, said banks were first introduced in me to this story. At the time i had no idea what it would become. The subject he explained was a passenger in the first lane to crash but in the north tower of the world trade center. From there the story took on the life of its own. It is a story of daniel from the dna mark lewin as as some assert that the first victim of the 9 11 attack. The sister of an extraordinarily gifted young man who believes anything is possible that nothing stand stand in its way of an allamerican kid who moved to israel against its will, ended up falling hopelessly in the country and served as an officer in the most elite unit of the israeli army. Trained to hunt and kill terrorists and put a tragic twist of irony later died at the hands. But a lot are robert and Computer Science formed softspoken Research Professor at the husband and a father and became a billionaire almost overnight. Im a theoretical mathematician who had a better algorithm that would change the internet forever. So that sums up a lot of the story. Danny lewin is going to colorado in 1970 in many ways a typical allamerican childhood. Hes the eldest of three boys, chatted to that is, a very bright, interesting family. There were some ways however in which his childhood with a little bit different and some of those things i later learned resort of early indicators of what would later become success in the field of Computer Science. First there was the fact that dannys parents believe so strongly nurturing children intellectually, teaching and subjects like math and science at a high level around the Kitchen Table while other children their age were probably watching cartoons. The family also had very first home computer in their entire neighborhood. Their father purchased a kit that you felt at home and then later purchase one of the very first personal computers, which was the apple ii. By the age of 10, dna and his brothers were also very talented were Teaching Office in the neighborhood who bought a computer how to program it. At the age of 14 can again if i took an unexpected and unwanted term. His father who had become increasingly enamored with zionism entry to jewish ideology associated with that decide to put the family moved into israel. Ginny was a teenager and he was serious. You can only imagine what that mustve been like if any of you have teenagers are experienced teenage rebellion, it was difficult for us parents. He went to mr. Kicking and screaming and angry. In fact, some people say didnt speak to his father for a here or try to avoid speaking to his father for a year. But he was really too bright and grounded and some say why to really ever go off the rails in any sense of the word. His rebellion instead became kind of his own determination to succeed in a way that anybody who challenged him, then he would hurt anybody who challenged him wrong. He started out as a local time where he built physical strength into what is called biblical proportions. He also sailed through High School Even though he didnt attend very often. He went to the science and Technology School and made it through with very little effort and without having to go to class very often. By age 18 he was so entrenched in israel and he came to love the country. In some ways, its a very intense place. Thats probably all of you know, a place where you grow up really fast. I think that is what is really politicize the character traits in him and push them to become an incredibly driven individual. At age 18 make most native israelis, he decided to join the army. That was not uncommon. But for some common is that city setup that much the surprise of his friends and family come and join the most elite unit that the israeli army, which is a counterterrorism unit. Up until the late 80s, it was hand selected. And so, when dna decided he was going to make it, most people assert is that okay, good luck with that. That sort of begin with pat eddie went on to defy all the odds. It is not only admitted, is two years to become an officer. From there he went on to the technion, which is what allowed the m. I. T. Of Israeli Companies have instituted to elegy. Thats swear he really became interested in some of the hardest problems in math and science for the first time. Also the idea that he wanted to use this highlevel math to solve problems. He juggled two of the hardest degrees and at the same time a wife and two Young Children and a fulltime job at ibm research lab. On top of all of this, he won the top student award in 1996 was bound for m. I. T. He was actually accepted to the top 10 graduate schools in Computer Science and engineering and decided on m. I. T. This is one of the wonderful parts of the story. The recent dna decided to attend m. I. T. Bus because one professor in particular. That professor was commonly, who had been at m. I. T. Computer science for several years and became sort of a legend in this rare field of theoretical Computer Science. Tenet told us back out of the library one day and he looked at it and talk, and this is the person i want to meet. This is the person i want to work with. And that was sent i actually have the book at home. I couldnt understand even the first sentence in the book. The title would take up an entire index card. But danny saw the work of something spectacular and more importantly learned that he spoke the same language as the professor, tom leighton. It is this rare side of theoretical Computer Science that so few people speak. This was back before the time when anybody knew about the word algorithm in terms of sort of interesting, almost term yesterday if anybody read the news today, google came up with a new search algorithm. But this is back when algorithms really werent being as having much practical application. So when dna landed at m. I. T. , tom leighton and his colleagues were working on a way to end what was at the time the worldwide ways. If you think back then, its hard to imagine that when we click and are immediately gratified that the response online that back then, which was the midtolate 90s, you would click and then you would that chirpy and mvps and the modem dialing and then you hear that infuriating message, please click on the server is busy. Try again later. The menu dial again. The whole thing was very tedious and it was really one of the greatest impediments to the growth of the internet at that time. Certain he was a big pediment to the growth of anybody who wanted a Business Online because if everybody thought into one website looking for something or wanted to buy something or see some paint and they could or would that make you mad they would go somewhere else. So everybody was working out the problem in their own way and most people were working on in ways that were effectively made sense, like building out the hardware. People would have to server farms where they just have tons and tons of servers. If they cut traffic of a server crash, the other servers picked up the slack. But then, the more traffic increase, the system started to fail as well. People were using other sources, highlevel Computer Science technology by cashing in marion and diesel were on a large scale. So the question before danny and tom and her colleagues at m. I. T. Was how to grow the internet into something that was actually could be used universally. So danny at the time is looking for an idea for his master thesis in a came up with this idea to be called consistent hashing. It is a rather complex idea. I explain it in the book, but its a set of algorithms he came up with and assist team of assigning a unique set of numbers. He wanted to use them and thought he could use it to help create traffic anywhere effect give an accurate way. Fortunately for him, a lot people initially didnt seem much potential in this paper, but tom leighton did. By 1997 they form the start of a company that Promised Land was being called the world wide wait. Danny, tom and the cofounder said the Company Public in the fall of 1999. They grew up very quickly and they had an ipo in october 99 that made them overnight billionaires. In this breakout star of the. Com boom. I will just read one more little selected toasty weather this lake at that time. This is the time again right at the height of the. Com boom. Technologies is like a lot of other businesses, very exciting place to be. To him on broadway in cambridge with a nondescript cluster of cubicles and offices, but it had all the trappings of a trendy started. M. I. T. Whiz kids who were barely or not to order came to record rollerblade. Every thursday truck pulls up ben jerrys ice cream, popcorn for us in peace for us in peace as big a group of programmers otherwise known as java for the caffeine fueled all nighters spent their time producing interface and graphics to the system and taking naps in a hammock suspended from the ceiling. Will koppel come a student m. I. T. Recalled juggling corporate or his dual degree at m. I. T. With a parttime job where he worked the overnight shift overseeing operations. Will koppel at all hours of people going around in Office Chairs someone does to another, tossing footballs and microwave in an Endless Supply of burritos. Who would be microwaving all night he said. There was so much energy you didnt even realize how exhausted you were. Two employees tossing a frisbee across the river play miniature golf under makeshift par person of course in between a few desks. The atmosphere was so fun and the intoxicating that it became easy for people to lose track of time. So there was this very exciting time and the company again just rocketed the tabs and quickly earned customers that were big names like cnn and yahoo and probably 1997 when danny was in his late 20s thomas d. Jobs called up and asked if he could buy the company. So danny stories that tackier in so many ways. And so the ending to this personal story is not a large part of the book, but it is obviously one that people ask a lot about because it is true that danny was quite possibly the very first victim of the 9 11 attack. We dont know exactly what happened on that day and we never will. But what they do know from the evidence that was gathered by the 9 11 commission and some very harrowing and courageous phone calls that the Flight Attendant made before the flight was steered crash. We know nine b. , danny c. Was on way to los angeles for a meeting is engaged at this struggle is a terrorist in the skillet killed when someone stopped him from behind. He was only 31 years old must behind a wife and two children. And yet another tragic twist of irony, that they proved so much of what danny predicted for the internet to be true. That day when is the equivalent of a 100 year flood. The nations federal agency turned to the internet for information about the disaster that was unfolding. Websites are crashing, phone lines were down and in the short time, danny had always predicted there was a time of the internet could not handle the crush of traffic to come its way and promised to knowledge he would work to keep you safe life would not have been. That day, even though the company was already struggling, and this is after the bubble bursting companies are struggling financially and they lost the heart and soul of their company. They worked through the next two days and kept a lot of these websites live like cnn. If you like on that day come you may can be made out of cement down, but a few hours later went back up to life the next few days and provided an amazing amount of information partially because of the technology, and the new first wrote at m. I. T. So thats probably enough about his stories, but its just great to be aired tonight to talk about this story. I hope really to take away from the book is this idea that you know, theres a quote in the book that i quote, commence the father of Computer Science has this wonderful thought, which is that an algorithm must be seen to be believed. I love that because the dna wrote this as a starving, struggling graduate student, there was a lot of people who didnt see the beauty and didnt see what he was proposing to be possible. There were academic promises the rejected the paper professor that said this is crazy. There were companies who said which are proposing cannot be done. Please leave. He knew any of faith and a big idea. So i think this is the take away from the book i hope is to inspire anybody with an idea thats greater than themselves to go ahead and pursue it matter what anybodys is and put everything into it and hopefully it works out. So thank you so much for listening. [applause] i thought maybe you could talk a little bit about the challenges that you say. It seems like this to be a tough story to follow about science, expertise. Any advice as a layperson to get into the meat of some of this. Im curious how you approach that. Thats a great question. It wasnt intimidating at first because the first part of it was that i was writing about all of these people. Many of the characters of the book, almost all of them are still living and still working on the field of Computer Science. Professors at m. I. T. , engineers at google and microsoft in their all very fine people. When i first started this book and i said im writing this book about danny lewin and tom leighton. The first thing they would say, hard disk i have ever met. This coming from a phd. Im thinking should i really read about this person, the smartest ive ever met . The wonderful thing about writing about these people is tom leighton is a professor and has been for so long. And he was really good about sitting down with me and explaining what the company does and what danny wrote in laymans terms. One of dannys best friends who is the marketer for the company, he didnt understand the algorithms and he was the one hired to do marketing for the company. He said my job was to explain and when my grandmother would understan