I too enjoy Menand's writing -- that I know who he is does not, oddly, keep me from thinking whenever I see his byline, "Menand... isn't that the guy who wrote the Don Quixote?"

I popped off to read the article before reading your post, and I came to pretty much the same conclusions as you. I really wish he had treated some of the more substantial revisions in depth.

Incidentally, thanks to the link to the Kilpatrick article on the PSAT thing. I hadn't heard about that.

I thought much of the article was amusing, particularly the writer's comments about New Yorker house style, but I admit his article is more concerned with his own prejudices than with the Manual itself.

Hey Steve, I'm back! I will answer your email soon. really. I swear. I promise. (guilt guilt guilt)

I also wasn't that big a fan of the article. The New Yorker's nonfiction is steadily declining, it seems to me (except Anthony Lane's movie reviews, which sadly are usually too short -- is even he being cut?). The last three sentences of his "review" are rather nice, but the whole thing seems like an excuse for him to bitch about MS Word (admittedly, the things he says are right on, especially the bits about too many menus, features and choices). But The sections that people who are not operating a printing press will consult most often.... the hell? He seems to see either two markets for the book, 1) college students 2) people running printing presses. For one thing, most people I knew in college and grad school were still required to use the MLA (does that date me terribly?). He doesn't seem much inclined to tell you what is actually in the book, unlike the fair if dour Slate review. That in and of itself is always terribly aggravating in a reviewer. At least Pauline Kael, high-wire stylist and paragraph-spinner though she was, would give you some of the substance of the movie, even if you felt after seeing it that she'd been to a completely different movie and mixed up the title.

I will answer your email. i swear. really.

Moi, it's OK. Really. You have a lifetime pass. Write whenever you feel like it; your words are always welcome, whether here or in my Inbox. Amicus fidelis medicamentum vitae.

You have a lifetime pass.

Jeez. ((blushes)) That's wonderful. You know the same goes for you, too.

moi