From The Washingtonian, Joe Biden is now a heartbeat away from the presidency — his life has been full of surprising highs and extraordinary lows; how social networks, bloggers, “macaca moments,” and other products of the new technology are changing politics — and presidential campaigns; a look at what happens when you call 911 in Washington, DC; and an article on journalists' secret lives. The cancer drug Herceptin saved Virginia Postrel’s life; it also cost $60,000 — would health-care reform put it, and other expensive new drugs, out of reach? More on The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French (and more from Bookforum). A review of The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization by Jonathan Lyons (and more). An interview with James Boyle

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