Reading it, I couldn't help but think of the comment from the fellow out in Washington state who would not shave his beard until bin Laden was killed or captured: "No one really won," he said, newly shaven. "Everybody's been hurt in all of this."

Then there was the paranoid former Chief of Secret Service who outlined his memoir thus: “The book will be quarto size, bound in red, top-edge gilt, subtitled ‘The Indiscretions of the CSS.’ It will have four hundred pages, all blank.”

Penguin Books is celebrating its 75th birthday this year. Here's a piece I wrote in 2006 about Penguin founder Allen Lane, and the enduring genius of his imprint's always eye-catching designs. (The look of this website is an homage to Penguin's classic orange and black livery).

"In life there comes a moment, and I believe that it’s unavoidable, that one cannot escape it, when everything is put in doubt: marriage, friends, especially friends of the couple. Not children. Children are never put in doubt. And this doubt grows around one. This doubt is alone, it is the doubt of solitude. It is born of solitude. We can already speak the word. I believe that most people couldn’t stand what I’m saying here, that they’d run away from it. This might be the reason why everyone is not a writer. Yes. That’s the difference. That is the truth. No other. Doubt equals writing. So it also equals the writer.”

"What Are Intellectuals Good For?" (Pressed Wafer, $15) collects almost twenty years worth of Scialabba's stuff, and there is much here to relish: a bracingly unreverential look at Edward Said (two cheers for that), and a devastating appraisal of Christopher Hitchens, to name just two notable pieces. Scott McLemee, another model man of letters, provides a very fine introduction. I'll keep this anthology close to hand.

All of this is bad, and it's not nostalgic to say that demise of the American newspaper will bring nothing good to the culture. Sure, let a thousand websites bloom, but none of these will be able to replicate what a newspaper does. (And I don't care what the brilliant Clay Shirky has to say.) At Garcia Interactive, designer John Duncan predicts 85 percent of American newspapers will be dead by 2011. A nightmare scenario. In a searching essay for The New Republic, Paul Starr reflects on the political consequences of an America with radically diminished newspapers.

There are surely more newspapers closures in the offing this year. But who's next? Douglas A. Macintyre at 24/7 Wall St. put out a controversial list of the ten papers it thinks will fold or go digital soon. However, always sharp industry vet Allan Mutter, who blogs at Reflections of a Newsosaur, seriously questioned Macintyre's findings. But this a matter of "if," not "when." I'm trying to be reassured by Mutter's skepticism; but, somewhere, we are headed for a no-newspaper town. What big city will the first to earn this undesirable distinction? The Seattle Times is in trouble; the venerable San Francisco Chronicle, which I had at 3-1, is in worse shape. I'll give it even odds to survive the rest of the year.

The Star-Ledger. Open: 6-1. Current: 4-1. The publishers are still predicting dire consequences--a sale or outright closure--if they don't get significant concessions from their drivers union by October 8. The mailers union agreed to a deal earlier this month, and non-union employees are taking buyouts, so perhaps the scare tactics are working. But I don't see a good ending for The Star-Ledger.

Philly Inquirer. Open: 4-1. Current: 3-1. If there's a drabber big city newspaper in America , I'd like to see it. The Inquirer needs to be redesigned from top to bottom. Say what you will about Sam Zell and his nutty "innovation officer" Lee Abrams(the man is a memo writing demon), but they've injected some vitality into the Chicago Tribune, former title holder of drabbest paper in America, which is sporting a cool new design. The Inquirer soldiers on like it's 1975. Please, Brian Tierney, do SOMETHING to make the Inquirer more pleasing to the eye--maybe you'll pick up some new readers.

Meanwhile, the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia recently voted to postpone a *$25-a -week raise which was due for Inquirer and Daily News journos. A noble sacrifice, but if Tierney and Philadelphia Media Holdings can't afford an extra 25 bucks a week, their balance sheet must be a total disaster.

There are also reports out of Denver that one of its dailies—The Denver Post or the Rocky Mountain News—may close down sometime soon. Both papers operate under a joint operating agreement between E.W Scripps, owner of the Rocky, and MediaNews Group, which owns the Post. The JOA, however, hasn't changed the fortunes of either paper, and both are suffering through a bad economy. Like Detroit, Denver won't be a two paper town forever. Alas, I'm laying 3-1 odds on the Rocky.