Book talk

Somebody in a comment thread somewhere (Hey, I'm a journalist!) linked to this Jonathan Yardley review of The Easy Way to Start Smoking: A Step-by-Step Guide to Smoking Twenty Cigarettes a Day -- And Loads More in the Evening. Read the whole thing, but here's Yardley on the authors' solution to a fear from which the diehard smoker is never quite free:

They steer you through that most desperate crisis -- "it's 2 a.m. and I have run out of matches and can't find a lighter" -- when you can't get the stove or the gas grill to light. One suggestion: "Rip the front off the gas boiler and smash the little window in the middle with your fist. Here you will find your friend -- the pilot light."