I especially liked that he went back and actually read and studied cover to cover before opining, as he said here

Twenty years ago, Microsoft’s Bill Gates said that one reason he didn’t have a TV set was that watching it wouldn’t leave him enough time to read each issue of the Economist from cover to cover. For the first—and probably the last—time in my life, I found myself emulating Bill Gates. Trudging through the Economist, week after week, I found I was watching less and less television, especially television news and documentaries of the “serious” sort which, even at their best, cannot convey as much information as a really well-written article.

But then, I found myself wishing he had watched TV at the same time and then be more able to compare. But what the heck, can't expect a PHD dissertation from every article, I'll take what little scholarship I can get these days.

Which brings me to the thought, which relates to the article's content: why is scholarship still considered elitist? How many more centuries do we have to wait until it isn't?