Gossip, the Untrivial Pursuit, Joseph Epstein, Tantor.
Joe Epstein and I both taught writing at Northwestern. A dapper man. He knows cool people and baseball and basketball, Aristotle, 18C English essayists, French poetry. Epstein talks about the social utility of gossip, its value as a weapon, its sheer funniness. You can’t enhance Joe Epstein. His sentences are beautiful. He’s extremely efficient; in a very short book (less than 8 hours) he makes you think you have a feel for the subject. Gossip is a lecture-demonstration. Epstein gossips about gossip.
