Kenneth Brower is the author of the book The Starship and the Canoe. This is a comparison of the lives of scientist Freeman Dyson and his 'rebellious' son George.

At a Long Now Foundation talk on Oct 5th, 2005 an audience member asked Freeman if there were any questions he'd like to ask of George or Esther, who were together giving a talk. He answered that he was curious how George went from rebellious teenager to respected colleague.

George answered that it was because of Kenneth Brower. Roughly, he said If you write a book describing a rebellious teenager about the only way they can then rebel is to become conventional.