some quick long-reads (and quick book revision note)

I was on a project last week. Here are a few of my favorites:


I liked this interview with Justice Scalia in part because the interviewer seems well prepared, but in larger part because Scalia is weird.

After Scalia admits to believing in the Devil, they have the following exchange:

Isn’t it terribly frightening to believe in the Devil?You’re looking at me as though I’m weird. My God! Are you so out of touch with most of America, most of which believes in the Devil? I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the Devil! It’s in the Gospels! You travel in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the Devil! Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil.

We had a short David Foster Wallace exchange on our fantasy football message board last week, so AC sent me this essay from 1996. I didn't expect to reread it because my reading list was backed up, but once I started I couldn't stop. Definitely one of my favorite DFW essays -- on some days you might get me to say it's my favorite. (This is the one that earned him my trust.)

You are invited to try to imagine what it would be like to be among the hundred best in the world at something. At anything. I have tried to imagine; it’s hard.

I wonder whether he believed himself to be one of the hundred best writers in the world when he wrote that sentence (it was published six months after Infinite Jest --- which I haven't read, and don't plan on reading until I'm a much stronger reader and a more mature and patient person.)

Mike Tyson writes a mini memoir in NY Magazine called My Life as a Young Thug. I only ask that you read the first section. If you read the first section and decide not to go on, then don't go in. (But my guess is that you will.)

Hambone directed me to this Rolling Stone article about Aaron Hernandez. It's almost worth reading solely for the new format on rollingstone.com. (It is also fun to come up with arguments Aaron Hernandez's attorney might make)

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Book Revision note:

All of the formatting needs to be considered. It should be clear that the notes sections are different from the regular stories. And their titles should explain them better too