I don’t have a commonplace book, and were I to begin, I would surely fall behind, even if it would be a rush of joy for me just to sit down to write with one of my fountain pens. How do I come up with quotes? I don’t, and never will, use a quotation book. That is cheating for me. Public speakers use books like that; I’m a reader and a writer and scholar. That means I’ve got to find... Read more

Great authors can sometimes be found in magazines and journals. I subscribe to some academic journals for my field and, like the evening shadow, they are covering the entire room with their shades. Others are for just reading and learning. So I subscribe to The Jerusalem Report, which is a nosy magazine about Israel. I read Commentary, which is knowledgeable about Israel’s place in the international context. Its writers are intelligent and they write for those who want to think... Read more

Shelves, by the way, do make a difference. If my books had made me famous or wealthy (I’d prefer the latter over the former), and if publishers thought of me as someone worth marketing lavishly (which they don’t), I would have a library of books housed caringly in Levenger bookcases (which I don’t have). You know the kind: stackable, individual shelves, each with a glass door engraved (“History: Ancient,” or “Essayists: American”), and made of solid, honest-to-goodness oak. They would... Read more