Essays: The Art of Thinking at the Keyboard

From The Age of the Essay, by computer scientist Paul Graham (hat tip to Slashdot poster bluFox):

... An essay doesn't begin with a statement, but with a question. In a real essay, you don't take a position and defend it. You notice a door that's ajar, and you open it and walk in to see what's inside.

If all you want to do is figure things out, why do you need to write anything, though? Why not just sit and think? Well, there precisely is Montaigne's great discovery. Expressing ideas helps to form them. Indeed, helps is far too weak a word. Most of what ends up in my essays I only thought of when I sat down to write them. That's why I write them. * * * Just as inviting people over forces you to clean up your apartment, writing something that other people will read forces you to think well.

(Emphasis added.) My sentiments exactly.

Read the whole thing, especially Graham's comments about surprising = interesting.