At times, I'd wish I'd had more time to "create" these entries, since I seem to charge through them as if I were a professional writer; but then perhaps that person is already there, though far ahead, and its more about me catching up to him.
As I continue with exploring the NY Times online opinion pages, I came across the essay titled "How To Listen" published by Lee Gutkind on July 1st of this year. In this essay, he makes a couple of suggestions or observations on the ability to listen.
The author makes two broad points - one where he recalls his experience with his therapist, and the other where he talks about how he went about interviewing Dr. Alan Waggoner for his book "Almost Human: Making Robots Think". About his therapist, he describes how the sessions would go, or how he would get him to begin talking - by leaning forward, all the while maintaining eye contact, and then giving a nod. Then like a music conductor, he would guide him whenever he went off track.
Listening is an active process, says the author, and its the first lesson for anyone who writes or interviews; interviews being from the perspective of a narrative or a creative non fiction writer - the job is often to keep the subject talking. Giving another example of interviewing techniques, he talks about William Howarth who would slow his speech and knit his brow, and when repeating answers he garbles them so that a new answer will be provided.
The writer then explains how he managed to interview Dr. Waggoner successfully, using the above techniques - that is by encouraging nods, and repeating questions whenever required. Although he'd tagged along with the whole team to observe, to reconstruct the story he had to efficiently interview Dr. Waggoner, so that neuroscientists could learn and enjoy it at the same time, which according to the writer is the challenge of creative non fiction.
The writers style appears to reflect the experience he's had - the points made are simple and concise, never going off topic. The narration is also polished, and as for putting forth his argument, he chooses to make very few points, which makes it more comprehensive. Listening appears to be an underrated skill that people don't usually talk about, which I presume was also one of the writers intention to point out in his essay.
As I continue with exploring the NY Times online opinion pages, I came across the essay titled "How To Listen" published by Lee Gutkind on July 1st of this year. In this essay, he makes a couple of suggestions or observations on the ability to listen.
The author makes two broad points - one where he recalls his experience with his therapist, and the other where he talks about how he went about interviewing Dr. Alan Waggoner for his book "Almost Human: Making Robots Think". About his therapist, he describes how the sessions would go, or how he would get him to begin talking - by leaning forward, all the while maintaining eye contact, and then giving a nod. Then like a music conductor, he would guide him whenever he went off track.
Listening is an active process, says the author, and its the first lesson for anyone who writes or interviews; interviews being from the perspective of a narrative or a creative non fiction writer - the job is often to keep the subject talking. Giving another example of interviewing techniques, he talks about William Howarth who would slow his speech and knit his brow, and when repeating answers he garbles them so that a new answer will be provided.
The writer then explains how he managed to interview Dr. Waggoner successfully, using the above techniques - that is by encouraging nods, and repeating questions whenever required. Although he'd tagged along with the whole team to observe, to reconstruct the story he had to efficiently interview Dr. Waggoner, so that neuroscientists could learn and enjoy it at the same time, which according to the writer is the challenge of creative non fiction.
The writers style appears to reflect the experience he's had - the points made are simple and concise, never going off topic. The narration is also polished, and as for putting forth his argument, he chooses to make very few points, which makes it more comprehensive. Listening appears to be an underrated skill that people don't usually talk about, which I presume was also one of the writers intention to point out in his essay.
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