Daniel McNeill

One day when I was on Easter Island, I hiked into its roadless back-country. There I discovered hundreds of basalt heads, toppled and broken, just as warriors had left them from the civil war. And I found it almost impossible not to peer under the great blocks, try to find a nose or mouth. The back of a stone head is stone, but its face is life itself. Faces surround me as I write. Nearby sits a wooden Easter Island head, carved by the sculptor whose family hosted me there. I have a Maori relief of two lovers? Tattooed faces, and a Carnival mask from Venice, too opulent to wear. But best of all is the photo of my wife Rosalind, who peeks out from behind a jungle frond in Hawaii. It captures not only her splendid face, but a moment of her mind, a mix of curiosity, uncertainty, and delight. Her look is inexpressible but instantly recognizable, and for me this face is more than life itself. Daniel McNeill is a bestselling author and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for The Face. Mr. McNeill is the principal author of Fuzzy Logic, which won the 1992-93 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Science and Technology. He has written numerous other books and articles on high technology, and his work has also appeared in fiction, travel, history, law, and education publications. He lives in Southern California.