And just this month, he opened a new natural history museum in Idaho, which he says is the largest museum in the state.

Rising to the Challenge

Carr, who tends to speak in generalities about even his most significant accomplishments, explains that he thinks enjoyable projects carry the most risks.

“You can certainly fail,” he says. “It’s good to be involved somewhere where there’s the risk of failure. I think all of the activities that we’re pursuing more or less fit that category.”

His newest and perhaps most daring adventure falls in Central Asia.

In November, he’ll fly to Afghanistan as part of his foundation’s efforts to construct a radio station in Kandahar.

Carr says he got involved in the Afghan project because of his long-term interest in the region’s politics—and jumped at the opportunity when the project was proposed to him.

“The whole issue of Islam...and how that society can embrace human rights has been on my mind for several years,” he says. “It’s a big, big question—can they, within their own culture, find the bridge to international human rights norms?”

The three Carr Foundation staff members in Afghanistan right now have been developing a women’s leadership center and preparing to launch an independent radio station in a country that has never previously had non-state-controlled media.

“[We’re] training Afghans to be journalists and to understand the value of a free press which is a new concept for them,” he says.

Last week, Carr flew to a conference in Virginia to discuss media and journalism issues in developing areas with two hundred people.

To carry out his projects, every morning, Carr wakes up early and spends a few hours at home on e-mail, corresponding with the projects he’s less actively engaged in.

He spends most of the rest of the day in meetings—with a break for running along the Charles River—and in the evenings, he says, when he doesn’t have other engagements, he spends his time reading and thinking.

“I’m happy to be home alone reading,” he says. Crewe says Carr is motivated by his quest for new and exciting projects.

“He’s constantly looking for an intellectual challenge,” she says.