Comments on Two Things You Should Read

Just wanted to say keep up the good work paul. your posts lately have been great and informative. hope you guys don't keep score based on comments generated, because your stuff has been a revelation on slog.

I like Colson Whitehead too, although the only book of his that's stuck in my head is The Intuitionist (the elevator one).

Baker's criticism of Wikipedia is years out of date. The problem with it now is not meaningless junk-culture articles full of protean junk, but serious articles drowning under their own weight. Too many articles have been attacked by "experts" who cannot write for a general audience, and who feel that microscopic technical detail more appropriate for a medical textbook or a PhD dissertation no one will ever read is more important than clarity.

In addition, the franchise of administrators has been extended well into the kook community, leading to articles where the actual information is buried beneath mountains of trivia. The article on "Super Tuesday" will inform you immediately that James Carville thinks it should be called "Tsunami Tuesday" long before you get to any real description of it, or the electoral results.

When I worked for [corporate overlord bookstore], I kept recommending The Fermata, but my manager never put it out on the shelf. Hmm...