Am I geek enough? NO, compared to the ones sneaking into Apple to volunteer a canceld project.

The Graphing Calculator Story

David Brooks has selected (Part I|Part II) what he thinks to be the best essays that were written this year. Here is the list reproduced, thanks to Patio Pundit:

Part I


"When Islam Breaks Down" by Theodore Dalrymple; City Journal.

"The Other Sixties" by Bruce Bawer; The Wilson Quarterly.

"Faculty Clubs and Church Pews" by William J. Stuntz; Tech Central Station.

"Blind Into Baghdad" by James Fallows; The Atlantic Monthly.

Seymour Hersh's work on Abu Ghraib: ; The New Yorker


"The Global Baby Bust" by Phillip Longman; Foreign Affairs.

"Power and Population in Asia" by Nicholas Eberstadt; Policy Review.

Part II

"Holland Daze" by Christopher Caldwell; The Weekly Standard

"Victory in Defeat" by Neal Ascherson; The London Review of Books.


"High Prices: How to Think About Prescription Drugs" by Malcolm Gladwell; The New Yorker

"World War IV" by Norman Podhoretz; Commentary

"A Fighting Faith: An Argument for a New Liberalism" by Peter Beinart; The New Republic

Charles Krauthammer, The National Interest | Francis Fukuyama, The National Interest

It is always tempting to make a great story, though it may be bad history.

Books | Leaps in the Dark: The Making of Scientific ReputationsThe falling apple that supposedly inspired the theory of gravitation was a myth. As Waller points out, the devious Newton probably used it as a ploy to avoid acknowledging any of his contemporaries. Such moments make a great story, but are bad history.