'Many years ago, before algorithms channelled our interactions with the written word, it was possible to stumble upon the quirkiest pieces of writing. I once turned a page in The New Yorker to a very long story about American baseball. I knew little about the subject and cared less, but was intrigued by the stature of the writer in broader fields and read the first couple of paragraphs to see what he had made of it. Pages later, I came to the end and out of a trance: it was fascinating. That takes an especially skilled writer who not only researches deeply, links up the elements carefully and writes with elegance, but who knows how to spotlight moments that trigger intrigue in the reader’s brain.' (Introduction)
