Kevin Conley

You'd have to be dedicated to your work to set yourself aflame for "research purposes" — but author Kevin Conley did just that. His new book catalogs his four years spent following Hollywood stuntmen.

His book about breeding racehorses is now out in paperback. It's called Stud: Adventures in Breeding. Stud explores the process of creating champions, from the farms of Kentucky, where studs command $500,000 a pop, to the horse auctions, where the world's richest people compete for the top yearlings. Conley is an editor at The New Yorker. This interview first aired March 25, 2002.