He respects reading but discs books.

• Position: Mind in Motion

Grant Kornberg has an Atomic Red Hot taped to his upper arm. It's the candy version of a nicotine patch, he explains - he's hyperactive enough without sugar, so he's cutting down on his intake.

That quirky streak suits Kornberg's equally quirky business background. The 38-year-old has had plenty of good ideas. Unfortunately, they don't always pay well.

His latest brainchild, Mind in Motion, puts out interactive literary products. It developed the CD-ROM compendium A Jack Kerouac ROMnibus for Penguin Electronic, which won best electronic book of 1996 from NewMedia Magazine. Entertainment Weekly called it "a rich wallow in Beat-ology." But critical claim is about all it's earned.

Chapel Hill-based Mind in Motion struck a deal with Harcourt Brace & Co. to develop three prototype electronic books, The Little Prince, A Room of One's Own and Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Harcourt has shelved those projects while deciding if CD-ROM books make sense to pursue.

Mind in Motion is the last in a string of literary ventures for Kornberg. Born in Canada, he was raised in Durham, where his father was a Duke political-science professor and his mother started a boutique. Kornberg got a bachelor's in philosophy from Brandeis in 1980, then completed a fellowship in a writing program at Johns Hopkins.

He taught English at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va., until 1984, when he and a partner opened the Hardback Cafe in Chapel Hill. The bookstore/cafe catered to an artsy crowd, and customers would sip coffee and...