833Nearest book

A book excerpt meme is propagating through Python blogs. Why not?

If it should become necessary to reconsider the whole matter

William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White, The Elements of Style, 4th edition. The phrase demonstrates how to recast awkward usage of a possessive participle. I reread this book about once a season in my never-ending quest to suck less as a writer.

The viral part:

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open it to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.