Gonzo

Posterity might assume that one name followed another, and our nickname for Isaac was inspired by something like the following. But no. Many of you readers may know otherwise. What was the precise inspiration for that delightfully wonderful name? It came to me one night when I was watching a pianist perform a marathon feat of the longest concert ever. His name was something like Gonzago, which made me think of Gonzaga, and then, voila, it came. I looked it up in the dictionary and liked it even better.

Little Gonzo Becker. Isaac Manuel "Gonzo" Becker. You probably have to take it for a test drive for a while, unless you're like me, and you can tell a perfectly approrpiate name from the get go.

Oh, and let me not omit the main motivation for a nickname, which is that Isaac, although a great name, is just too popular these days. And even one of our first thought of nicknames, Izzy, is also too popular as a result. Gonzo, though. Now there's a name for you.

'Ancient Gonzo Wisdom'

• Excerpt: 'Ancient Gonzo Wisdom'

Ancient Gonzo Wisdom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson, edited by Anita Thompson, paperback, 432 pages, Da Capo Press, list price: $18

Like Norman Mailer and Allen Ginsberg, Hunter S. Thompson practiced the interview as an art form. This amusing collection pulls from 30 years of conversations and reveals the gonzo journalist to be much more of a craftsman than he is often given credit for being. It would, in fact, make a great gift to any budding journalist.

"The truth is never told across a desk," he tells one interlocutor, "or during nine-to-five hours ... I call people at night." On citations: "I use quotes like little jewels." He dishes on presidents and criminals.

He is also terribly prescient. In 2003, he cautions a young reporter on changes to come. "Man, I don't envy you where you're at. See, you're part of the first generation that's going to do worse than your parents did." (Coming July 6.)