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Henry Waxman's book reveals lessons learned  

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is this year's man of the hour. As chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, he has been at the center of both health care and climate change legislation, in addition to being a political fixture who has kept K Street and Capitol Hill scrambling for three decades.

His new book, "The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works," written with The Atlantic's Joshua Green, offers meaty -- though at times self-serving -- advice for people who want to get things done on the Hill.

But the book isn't all business. Waxman, one of the Hill's most ferocious crusaders against Big Tobacco, reveals that he is a reformed smoker (not to mention an ex-gas guzzler). "In high school, I would tool around Los Angeles in my green-and-white Buick, dragging on a cigarette and imagining myself the epitome of cool," he writes. Waxman quit smoking after college but relapsed upon coming to Congress, where the tobacco lobby stocked cigarettes at major events, meetings and congressional business trips. "Before long, I was hooked again and mortified to be so, since I was already becoming known as a crusader against tobacco. Driven by a deep sense of embarrassment, I managed to quit for good."

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