The New Yorker legend's essay on interviewing is behind a paywall, but Jack Limpert quotes him on the power of notebooks: "As you scribble away, the interviewee is, of course, watching you. Now, unaccountably, you slow down, and even stop writing, while the interviewee goes on talking. The interviewee becomes nervous … and spills out the secrets of a secret life, or maybe just a clearer and more quotable version of what was said before."
April 16, 2014