April 29, 2008
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Night camp:
Wal-Mart parking lot, Pratt, Kansas
Ask What Surprised Them
I was afraid of flying for a long time and could only travel vicariously. When friends came back from faraway places, it wasn't just out of politeness that I asked what they saw. I really wanted to know. And I found the best way to get information out of them was to ask what surprised them. How was the place different from what they expected? This is an extremely useful question. You can ask it of the most unobservant people, and it will extract information they didn't even know they were recording.
The Age of the Essay, Paul Graham, September 2004