Seattle writer and University of Washington professor David Shields takes on writing, perception, reality proposed or reality disposed, and much more, in his rousing new book, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (Knopf). This work has garnered a goodly amount of pre-publication attention, buzz in all the spheres and zones, from the printed to the virtual. "The subtitle of David Shields' Reality Hunger categorizes it as a 'manifesto,' which is a little like calling a nuclear bomb a 'weapon.' In a series of numbered paragraphs, Shields explores all sorts of categorical distinctions—between fiction and nonfiction, originality and plagiarism, memoir and fabrication, reality and perception. It's a book designed to inspire and to infuriate, and it is sure to do both." - Don McLesse, Kirkus Reviews. "This is the book that our sick-at-heart moment needs—like a sock in the jaw or an electric jolt in the solar plexus—to wake it up." - Wayne Koestenbaum.