History vs. Memoir

Reporter Fareed Zakaria recently interviewed China's premier Wen Jiabao for Time magazine. The piece, whose brevity strongly suggests Zakaria had around ten minutes with the PRC's numero uno, wasn't terribly informative. However, there was one unanticipated, golden moment. Here's the direct quote from the Time piece:

Q: Is there a book you've read in the past few months that has impressed you?

A: The books that are always on my shelves are books about history, because I believe history is like a mirror, and I like to read both Chinese history and history of foreign countries. There are two books that I often travel with. One is The Theory of Moral Sentiments, by Adam Smith. The other is The Meditations [of Marcus Aurelius]. There are too many memoirs selling nowadays. I don't like reading those books.

While Wen's politics are often objectionable, I'll second his motion regarding history vs. memoirs.

The image shows Wen in 2007 honoring a photograph taken by China's first lunar probe.