I owe my grandparents a debt of gratitude for the Reagan-years subscription to National Review and for turning me onto a little-known book: Amo, Amas, Amat and More--with introduction by WFB.  The book sparked what became four years of high school Latin and a lifetime of wondering why I didn't take Spanish.  But reading Buckley (in that book and in that magazine) sparked what became a three-decade long tradition of reading what WFB wrote with a dictionary alongside (although in recent years, it has been dictionary.com -- thank heavens for Mozilla's tabbed-browsing!).

I've also appreciated his humor and approach to an issue--even athwart (to steal his word) the conventional wisdom of the day.  There is the story about him trying a certain plant product, consuming it on his boat outside U.S. territorial waters. At least he could say, he had an informed opinion.  The opinion is informed, and amidst a cutting argument is some hilarious deadpan humor (see the first link "trying" above).

Here are three great profile pieces from the Washington Post, the Washington Times and The New York Times--all worth a read.