I love Scott McCloud: Understanding Comics is an absolutely awesome book. I came across this recently posted video of a talk he did at TED in February 2005. A fabulous presentation: Vannevar Bush, J.C.R. Licklider, Marshall McLuhan, visions of the future, truth, beauty, 4 basic principles for living your life, temporal maps, spatial relationships, durable mutations, and, yes, even comics. Smart, funny, and still ahead of the curve. What more can you ask for?