The Age of the Essay: “You don’t know yet. And so you can’t begin with a thesis, because you don’t have one, and may never have one. 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.”
Paul Graham is a hero of mine, not for his hacker-hero-worship, but because he’s a THINKER first, and a programmer second. His “essay on essays” should be given to every freshman in college.