This past weekend, The New York Times Magazine published an excellent feature on author and scholar Lewis Hyde, best known for his book The Gift, a landmark assessment of the gift economy and the value of doing creative work in a commodity-driven culture. I read The Gift a few years ago, and pieces from it often pop into my head when I talk to artists who use Creative Commons licenses in their approach to distributing their work. The Times article is a great primer on Hyde and The Gift is highly recommended for anyone interested in beautifully-written and well-argued philosophy about the benefits of sharing.