Today's issue of The New Yorker has an excerpt from Steve Martin's forthcoming memoir, Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life, in which he talks about starting out as an actor while dating the daughter of Dalton Trumbo and taking classes in logic at UCLA. "I concluded that not to continue with comedy would leave a question in my mind that would nag me for the rest of my life: Could I have had a career in performing?...I abruptly changed my major to theatre and, free from the workload of my logic classes, took a relaxing inhale of crisp California air." The issue also has pieces on Mitt Romney and Scott Boras, the most powerful non-player in baseball, who keeps luxury boxes at Dodger Stadium and in Anaheim. "He takes himself very seriously," says Fay Vincent, the former commissioner. "I’m not surprised that he’s beginning to make grandiose suggestions."

* Correction: The New Yorker article is called "In the Bird Cage," but Martin's book is Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life.

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