The new Chomsky just came.  I didn’t exactly run around the house like Steve Martin in The Jerk getting the first new phone book with his name in it, but if, like me, you enjoy the characteristic Chomsky-exposure mixture of (a) appreciating the work of a guy who tries to refuse moral relativism in all its forms, while (b) becoming incredibly depressed, it’s a hell of a good read.

I’d recommend alternating with John Hodgman’s The Areas of My Expertise, a surrealist almanac more accurate than most of the evening news.  The authoritative list of eight U.S. presidents who had hooks for hands, for example, is a perfect reset-button after reading Chomsky’s assessment of the U.S. electoral process.