USA Africa Dialogue Series - What It's Like to Be Noam Chomsky's Assistant

"I could see from his work that his memory was a force of nature, and one day I dared to ask him about it. He told me he has what he calls "buffers," or little drawers in his brain that he opens to retrieve conversations and correspondence from as long as 50 years ago. He told me he thought for a long time that everyone had this ability.

Over the years, I have had to fight despair as linguistics discussions have given way more and more to the political. I recently heard Noam tell a journalist, "Climate change and nuclear disaster are the two most imminent issues that could lead to the termination of the species." Waiting to show the journalist out, I thought, "Give me sentence structure or give me death."

He is so often preoccupied that he has to be reminded to take care of himself. Visiting his home office, I've seen Noam munching on matzo smudged with butter while thumbing through a book when he hadn't gotten around to shopping for food. When I asked him where he was getting his protein, he answered, "Isn't butter protein?" Then he tilted his head and grinned as he does when he sees that he "got" me, and he further asked, "How about Scotch? And there must be protein in coffee.""

http://chronicle.com/article/What-Its-Like-to-Be-Noam/234667

- Ikhide