BY: JONATHAN LOWE

This month Jonathan Lowe interviews bestselling mystery author David Baldacci about his writing, the audio book release of Stone Cold, and literacy vs. television. Also: Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth and an essential new recording of a Dostoevsky classic.

Has the world gone mad? It would seem so, says Eckhart Tolle in his book A NEW EARTH, which describes this collective madness as enslavement by the ego's obsessive thought patterns. What's the ego? According to Tolle, it's who you THINK you are - a substitute identity for who you really are. The ego is at the core of what's wrong with the world because it's such a pervasive delusion. So people who brag and scheme, who obsess over status, who tailgate you and worry about keeping up with the Joneses...these people are enslaved by their "egoic mind," says Tolle in this Oprah pick, and are not happy campers. Not only are they not happy, they don't want anyone else to be happy either. (Misery loves company, after all.) What's the alternative to being judgmental, vain, impatient, competitive and/or ruthless? Well, apparently for some it's to acquire a collective group identity - a political party, a sports team, a cult. An "us versus them" mentality which then replaces the lonely and terrified "I" that fears inevitable loss...or rather the ego that demands to be perceived as right. To find one's true identity, however, explains Tolle, a person needs to slow down and realize that the future is only a concept, and never a reality. So being conscious of the present moment as one's only true possession is key. Such an awareness also dissolves the past, substituting a sense of joy and "being" for the more typical regret, angst, and anxiety. Read by the author, the audiobook version resonates with many of these seemingly simple yet profound truths, evident to the listener in Eckhart's own narrative tone - never preachy, never soapbox maudlin, and most of all never accepting of The Secret mindset espoused by other self help gurus who've gotten rich by holding up material wealth (rather than mental and spiritual health) as the ultimate goal. As such, it's a worthy followup to Tolle's masterpiece The Power of Now. (Penguin Audio or Audible.com download; 9 hours unabridged)

Next, a classic murder mystery with an appeal to anyone, but particularly to students assigned a book report, is CRIME AND PUNISHMENT by Fyodor Dostoevsky, given a new reading by actor Anthony Heald for Blackstone. Originally published in 1866, this masterpiece explores the tortures that conscience imposes on a Russian citizen who murders a despicable pawnbroker. Trapped by his own mind, Raskolnikov narrates his disordered psychological descent into darkness with a fevered intensity, and who better to act out his story than Heald, a Tony and Obie award winner who also had a role in Silence of the Lambs. Heald is relatively new to the audiobook scene, but is a commanding presence, able to acquire a character's unique voice with subtle ease, especially those whose complex emotions make for a compelling and nuanced interpretation. As book report material, the novel is often required reading, but as an audiobook performance, let us now assign it as required listening. (Blackstone Audio; 20 hours on Mp3 disk format)

Finally, DAVID BALDACCI has sold 50 million copies of his novels in 35 languages and in 85 countries.  These include Absolute Power, Total Control, The Winner, The Simple Truth, Saving Faith, Wish You Well, The Christmas Train, Split Second, The Camel Club, Simple Genius, and STONE COLD, his new "Camel Club" novel featuring a character named Oliver Stone - a former CIA assassin who tries to protect a con artist being hunted by the casino don she conned out of millions, and who killed her mother. Narrated by Ron McLarty for Hachette Audio, the audiobook has garnered praise as a twisting plot romp among various shadow agencies and governments. David's next novel, due out next month, is The Whole Truth, and I spoke to him via phone about his writing, audiobooks in general, and McLarty in particular.

JONATHAN LOWE: Mystery writer Dennis LeHane said that he starts with characters, sets them in conflict, and lets them work out the plot.  Do you start with an outline, yourself, and if so, which comes first - the characters or the action?

DAVID BALDACCI: I've done it both ways. Had some novels where I've started with characters, and built the plot around them. Other times I've come up with an interesting plot, and constructed characters to inhabit that story. That said, you can have a great plot, but if the characters are cardboard, and the reader doesn't care what happens to them, even the greatest plot in the world won't hold their attention.

LOWE: How much of the writing is discovery for you, then, and do you know the ending when you begin?

BALDACCI: I hardly ever know the ending when I begin. I'm not smart enough to know everything that's going to happen. Some writers have very elaborate outlines, and they don't deviate from that. It's an evolutionary process for me. As I research a subject, new subplots and ideas occur to me. I may not know what characters are capable of in the first hundred pages, and so this dictates future action.

LOWE: I know what you mean, although I also know some writers who start with the ending and work backward, not knowing how they're going to get there. It's more fun not knowing, in any case, isn't it?

BALDACCI: Oh, it is. I mean, I don't want to sit down and say, 'okay, today I'm going to be writing section two, subparagraph nine...'  (Laughs)

LOWE: I've read once that you like trains, and you wrote The Christmas Train. What trips have you taken on trains, and what inspired that book, specifically?