He gave a digressive answer about contracts and how he once had a lifetime contract in Japan, or so he thought.

WSJ: Bobby Valentine: Back to School��Jason Gay

Although his sentences are long and loose, they are not cutely or aimlessly digressive: truth is repeatedly being struck at, not chatted up.

NEWYORKER: Total Recall

But as Zachary Karabell reminds us in this concise and pleasantly digressive history, the waterway's creation stirred great passions in the 19th century.

ECONOMIST: The Suez Canal