Typewriter, Baby, Typewriter: Thomas Friedman

TO SOME PEOPLE, Thomas Friedman is the male Maureen Dowd. Some people are wrong. He's not Gail Collins (my personal favorite columnist), and sometimes he says wacky things, but he's funnier and more insightful than Dowd and I never feel after reading his column that I have wasted ten minutes of my life. I could have been eating cookies, Maureen Dowd. I could have been reading an essay by Jincy Willet. But no, I gave you my trust and you ground it in the dirt under your heel. And yet I keep coming back.

But back to Thomas Friedman: He's very pleased with himself, but so are most writers. His new book is "Hot, Flat and Crowded," about what will happen to the world if we don't seek alternative energy sources. It's timely, it's well-written and if you read it, you can say to everyone "Have you read Thomas Friedman's new book? Oh, you haven't? Oh ... well, no big deal. We can't all be winners."

» Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW; Tue., Sept. 23, 7 p.m., $12 or get two free tickets when you buy the book; 202-408-3100. (Gallery Place)