top 10 smartest people

1. Bill James - Sabrematician
   
   
   
   Sabremetrics of the study of baseball statistics. SABR is the Society of American Baseball Research. Long before the Internet (Okay, long before most people had heard of the Internet) and before the plethora of stat books that fill bookstores today, Bill was doing surveys, compiling studies and mailing Xerox copies out to fans who were interested. I fist heard of him after I won big in Atlantic City and decided to go to the bookstore and buy The Baseball Encyclopedia and found myself reading furiously through this book called The Baseball Abstract. I bought both. And then sat down in the mall and read James' book cover to cover. I can only liken it to a blind man being able to see for the first time. Platooning, Park Effects, Reliever's ERA and 100 things you never even considered.

   And it's not just the statistics. He's a brilliant essayist. Goes off on wonderful rants. I can't find a website for Bill himself. I suspect he doesn't have one. The link above is to his Amazon author page. Here are some other links about him and his work.
   
   

2. Virginia Postrel - Dynamist
   
   
   
   I first learned of Virignia when she was editor of Reason, a libertarian magazine. Since then she's moved on to be a full-time writer. Her first book was The Future and It's Enemies. She's currently working on her second book, Look and Feel. I am amazed at the number of times She will write something, that I had never considered before, and then once upon reading it, I'll say to myself "Of course, this makes perfect sense." Two examples are this piece on Clinton-Lewinsky and this one on the Republican Revolution. I listed her as a Dynamist, rather than as an author or editor, because she coined the term. Roughly speaking, Dynamists recognize the need for change and trial-and-error experimentation, while their counterparts The Stasists like things they are and are real big on one size fits all top to bottom solutions.
   
   
3. David Friedman - Anarcho-Capitalist
   
   
   
   I don't know if David Friedman coined the term Anarcho-Capitalist, but he seems to be the world's leading proponent of this form of "government." In a nutshell Anarcho-Capitalists do not beleive that government should have a monopoly on the use of force. Individuals contract with others to receive all services currently provided by goverment, including police protetction, courts and even laws. Friedman is the son of Nobel Prize Winning Economist Milton Friedman. The younger Friedman never took an Economics course,learning from his parents at the dinner table. His doctorate is in Physics. Friedman is also quite an enagaging author. His two most recent books are Hidden Order and Law's Order. Future Imperfect will be published soon. A draft is available here.
   
   
4. Jonah Goldberg - Syndicated Columnist
   
   
   Okay, lots of explaining to do here. First that's not Jonah, It's his dog Cosmo. Then there is the Dave controversy. Dave Fowler doesn't understand why I even need 9 other people on my list, he says Goldberg alone is sufficient. Meanwhile Dave Pierson wants to know how I can have on person on my list (Jonah) attacking another person on my list (Virginia). See the column Dave P. is talking about here.
   Well I don't have to agree with everything thing somebody on my list says. Bill James wants to make it more difficult to change pitchers in mid-inning. I disagree, but he's still on my list. And so is Goldberg. Somtimes, especially when he picks on (or misrepresents libertarians) I get annoyed. But he is well-read, skewers liberals and is consistently funny. Dave Fowler and I had a great time when Goldberg spoke at Widener back in January. These are 3 of my favorite columns: here, here and here. Also this is an interesting book by his wife, Jessica Gavora.
   
   Update 5/22/02: Here's another good column.
   
   
5. NM Dan Heisman - Chess Instructor
   
   
   
   Dan Heisman is the Renaissance Man. He had helped me immeasurably with my chess game. He is also a world class backgammon player.
   
   
6. P.J. O'Rourke - Humorist
   
   
   
   PJ O'Rourke is quite simply the funniest man alive. he is the only writer that can make me burst out loud laughing on a regular basis. Here's what he has to say about government: Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. His travel essays on the more decrepit areas of the world are brilliant. These are his best three books: Parliament of Whores, All the Trouble in the World, and Holidays in Hell.
   
   
7. John Allan Palous - Mathematician
   
   
   
   Professor of Mathematics at Temple University and Adjunct Professor of Journalism at Columbia University as well as an extensively kudized author, public speaker, and monthly columnist for ABCNews.com, John Allen Paulos received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin. Too many people in this country (and around the world) take statistics at face value. It's important to understand the context that numbers are used in. His best book is Innumeracy. Em took my copy to work where she routinely uses it to slam her co-workers.
   
   
8. Walter Williams - Professor of Economics
   
   
   
   Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dr. Walter E. Williams holds a B.A. degree in economics from California State University - Los Angeles, and M.A. and Ph.D degrees in economics from UCLA. He also holds a Doctor of Humane Letters from Virginia Union University and Grove City College and a Doctor of Laws from Washington and Jefferson College. He serves on the faculty of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics. From 1995 to 2001, he served as department chairman. He is also an occasional substitute host for the "Rush Limbaugh" show. His books include The State Against Blacks, and More Liberty Means Less Government. You can read his syndicated column here.
   
   
9. Glenn Reynolds - InstaPundit
   
   
   
   Reynolds is a law professor at the University of Tennessee. His most recent book is The Appearance of Impropriety: How the Ethics Wars Have Undermined American Government, Business and Society. He also owns a small record company (it's not organized as a nonprofit, but it might as well be) with his brother and another guy, called WonderDog Records. But the main thing Professor Reynolds is known for is being the hyper-blogging InstaPundit. Any time day or night he can be found blogging. Fifteen, twenty, twenty-Five intersting and insightful posts or links a day.
   
   
10. Laurie Dhue - News Anchor
    
    
    
    Fomerly an anchor on MSNBC and CNN, Laurie Dhue now is responsible for the weeknight up dates 6pm-10:37pm Mon-Thursday on the Fox News Channel. She also anchors Fox News on Sundays from 2-4pm, hosts the Fox Report and Fox Magazine on Sundays at 7pm and 11pm respectively. All times are Eastern.
    
    Laurie was a competitve swimmer at the University of North Carolnia, and is also a Seattle Mariners fan.

posted by: razan