I have no doubt that Jonah Goldberg put in many hours of work on his own version of The Runaway Soul, but part of Jonah’s charm, such as it is, is his penchant for glib smirky toss-off lines which are the reason most people bother to read him the first place. There can be great joy in reading Jonah for the intentional, and more often unintentional, hilarity of it all.

But what you really have to appreciate is the marketing plan that will initially sell Jonah as the American Jacques Barzun only to later admit that they were only kidding and that he’s P.J. O’Rourke via Mad Magazine. Maybe Cracked. It’s so hard to tell these days.

Either way, this will become known as the book that launched a thousand blogs.