How did I not make this list?

Foreign Policy lists their picks for the world’s top 100 public intellectuals.

The criteria for making the list are pretty simple: alive, active, distinction, influence. I must not be active enough. Sorry, guys, but I’m about to become more active.

It’s an interesting list – at least, I think it is. I only recognize 23 of the names – 24 if the Charles Taylor they list is the same Charles Taylor who used to be President of Liberia, but I kinda doubt that.

I don’t always know why I recognize them, just that I do.

But look at some of them: you’ve got Pope Benedict XVI, Thomas Friedman, Garry Kasparov, Gen. David Petraeus, and Bjorn Lomborg; and then you’ve got Peter Singer, Noam Chomsky, Richard Dawkins, Al Gore, and Paul Krugman.

I think the word “eclectic” applies.

Visitors to the site can vote on their top 5, and then can write in another name that wasn't on the list. I did. No, I didn’t write myself in.

Hat tip Althouse