What is common to them is the approach to the writing, the rigour, the research, the organisation of facts. Long-form journalism demands patience, doggedness and the ruthlessness to shape art from a mountain of facts.
Subramanian’s research is extensive and passions diverse. His wit ensures the research sits lightly.
The reader with little or no interest in real-estate spam (that all of us receive on our phones), for example, is taken along on a unique ride. There are answers to questions none of us thinks of asking.
There is a lyrical quality to the writing; the use of the inevitable word rather than the convenient one makes this volume a standard guide to the genre. Subramanian, whose biography of scientist J.B.S.
Haldane is a modern classic, doesn’t beat you over the head with his discoveries nor does he point excitedly to the larger picture that emerges in the essays. He allows the social commentary, the politics, the human drama to evolve gradually and naturally.
What happens when a cable connecting Tonga to the world snaps? “A country offline may as well not exist at all,” writes Subramanian. To use a range of subjects to delineate the modern condition is a rare challenge and requires a rare talent.
Subramanian has taken on the former cheerfully because he has oodles of the latter.