Lunch With Strangers

Over at The New Republic Micheal Kinsley has an amusing account of a lunch he never had with President Reagan. My favorite element of the piece is his description of the "Washington Read" whereby one flips to the index to see if one earned mention in any given book. The writer's equivalent is to comb a book's bibliography (or, more ponderously, the notes) to see one's own work mentioned. Such solipsim simultaneously represents both incredible high self-regard and equally incredible insecurity. And I'll admit that I'm guilty with both psychological motivations undoubtedly at work.