Last week I stopped at a thift store to look for a used food processor. I found one, and a lot of other things I didn't know I needed. One of those things was a book by Noam Chomsky called Hegemony and Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance, which contains Chomsky's latest trenchant critique of U.S. foreign policy. Being a fan of Chomsky, I pulled it off the shelf, quite surprised to find a Chomsky book at a thrift store. It was a hardback and only cost $1.98! So of course I bought it. I thought it was a pretty good find, a major "score"--for those keeping score.
Then this morning I read in the Washington Post about Hugo Chavez's infamous attack upon George Bush at the UN last week, the one in which he called the president a "devil," etc (Sunday, September 24, B2). I learned from the article something I hadn't known before: while delivering his diatribe, Chavez was waving a book around. And what was the book? Chomsky's Hegemony and Survival, of course.
Reading further, I learned this: as a result of all the publicity from the Chavez speech, Chomsky's book went from #20,664 to #1 at Amazon.com in one day. Wow. If I even get a book published, I know who to contact to do publicity.
So while everyone was scrambling to find Chomsky's book, I stumbled upon one at Value Village thrift store, selling for $1.98. So the next time some global bete noir waves a book around, check your local thrift store.
BLOG FANTASY: Chomsky just read my blog entry and emailed me to urge you, my many readers, to go to a bookstore and pay full price. "A guy's got to make a living, knowwhatI'msaying?" Chomsky said.
All right, Noam, I've told my peeps.
Posted by jeb at September 24, 2006 8:20 PM | TrackBack