I'm so convinced of this fact that I'm recommending Ross' brand-new book The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century before I've had a chance to read much more than inside flap. Although he's been the music critic for the New Yorker for over a decade, I wasn't really familiar with his writing until I came across his website a few weeks ago and read a long, fascinating piece on American composer John Adams. Now, John Adams is another rather famous person I'd never heard of until a few weeks ago. But after reading Ross' article I went looking for upcoming performances of Adams' work and, amazingly, saw that the Cleveland Orchestra was featuring his Guide to Strange Places at their Carnegie Hall guest appearance, which was coming up in just a few days. I was just in time to get tickets, and it was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. That was last Tuesday and, of course, I went out and got The Rest is Noise the very next day. Now it's your turn.