I’ve always considered email interviews to be cheap attempts to drive traffic to a site, or a pure lack of writing inspiration. They were always something that I’d skip over in my feed reader.

Then the revelation struck: maybe interviews are actually difficult to get right, making the majority of interviews nothing more than pathetic rhetoric. The fate of an interview rests on the shoulders of the interviewer—most who are uneducated on the topic being discussed, or simply don’t ask meaningful questions.

As I’ve begun to immerse myself in “real” interviews, I’ve grown to appreciate the quality of the questions, the sincerity of the conversation, and the thought-provoking ideas which are discussed. Interviews moved from simply being pre-written questions, to a topic-driven conversation.

Now, I find myself looking forward to reading a good interview.

Coincidentally, this week, a couple of interviews have landed their way in my RSS reader. Taking them like gold, I sat down, and read for 30 minutes. No distractions. No tweets. Just me sitting and reading.

When an article captivates your attention and imagination more than a feature-length, multi-million dollar movie, I think they deserve a link.

The Interviews

Phil Bowell interviews Shawn Blanc - Definitely one of the best interviews I’ve read in awhile. Phil talks to Shawn Blanc—author of my personal favourite blog—about how he began writing, as well as his design process, and even some steps he takes when conducting an email interview. Go grab yourself a cup of your favourite hot beverage, and read this right now.

Kyle Baxter interviews Brent Simmons - Kyle’s blog, TightWind, has quickly moved to the top of my RSS reader. He has a fascinating interview with Brett Simmons, maker of NetNewsWire—my RSS reader of choice, regarding the UI design of iPhone apps. In one sentence, Brent defines the key to developing for the iPhone: “Clarity is more valuable than density.”

And while I’m at it, why not plug some older, notable interviews that I have re-read recently?

The Glenn Wolsey Interview - The one part of this interview that continues to strike me everytime I read it, is actually something that Shawn (the interviewer) mentioned in response to one of Glenn’s remarks.

I almost wonder if The Net has taught us we should write short and quick posts in order to cater to those who want to consume the most amount of information in the least amount of time, thus the nobility of a blogger writing something wonderful and captivating has been lost.

The John Gruber Interview - Undoubtedly the most thoughtful interview I have read—it defines the gold-standard of interviews in my mind. It may be long, but it’s not one of those “skim-every-other-paragraph” articles. You just have to read every word.

Probing the Hive Mind - Chris Bowler reminds me about how much I enjoyed his remarkable interview with Dan Benjamin. Talking about everything and anything, it’s one of those good rainy day reads.