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The younger Neuharth, now 54, worked briefly on USA Today, but soon became enmeshed with another notable egocentric: Werner Erhard, the Marin-based inventor of est.


Neuharth, who had taken est training himself, remembers interviewing Erhard for USA Today, preparing a Q&A article for the editorial page. He recalls an editor, reading Erhard's grandiose (and arcane) responses, asking "Does this guy speak English?"

Not long afterward, Neuharth received an invitation to do public relations for est; he had always wanted to work in San Francisco. His reaction was "why not?"

Erhard proved to be as controlling as his dad, Neuharth says: he tape-recorded every press interview to make sure he was never misquoted; he wore makeup whenever a photographer was due to take his picture.

Neuharth left when his job turned out to be extolling Erhard instead of the program, a pop (and popular) course in self-discovery.