How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

I don't like non-fiction generally, because it is usually boring.* It's reminiscent of history textbooks, to me, all first this happened, then this happened, blah blah blah , can't something explode already? Jeez! But, no, it can't explode, because it didn't explode in Real Life, Jay, and this is non -fiction. YAWN. That said, though, good writing conquers all, because there are some writers who can make me read stuff I would never otherwise read (Atul Gawande's Complications ) about subjects I don't even care about (Michael Lewis's Moneyball ), and David Simon's Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets is one of those books. By now, you're probably familiar with David Simon--he's the guy who created infamous HBO series The Wire , which was proclaimed, like, the Savior of All Television, Espcially HBO after The Sopranos went off the air,** but this book is where it all starts. The book is basically a recount of the entire year of 1988 wit