Robert Caro on how to get good information during an interview: "Shut up!"

The author of "The Power Broker" and "The Years of Lyndon Johnson", Pulitzer Prize winner Robert A. Caro, is known for his meticulously documented and detailed biographies.

His voluminous works are celebrated, as well as his dedication to his profession: Caro and his wife Ina have moved their home several times in the service of his books, in order to be able to experience the world as the subjects of his books could have it. Together, they spent tens of thousands of hours reviewing documents, conducting interviews and so much more, all at the service of a detailed and accurate description of the lives of the subjects in his books.

That's why Caro's latest book, "Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing," is particularly fascinating.

In "Work", Caro details for the first time the fascinating process of his work.

The book is extremely useful if you are interested in the process of non-fiction research and writing, but there is a particularly useful tip for anyone: "Interviews: silence is the weapon, the silence and the need of people to complete it – as long as the person is not you, the interviewer, "writes Caro in a chapter titled" The tricks of the trade ".

Caro compares her own interview process to that of fictitious investigators, Inspector Maigret and George Smiley, at least in a distinct way: all three "use small devices to keep from talking". In the case of Maigret, says Caro, he cleans his pipe. And in the case of Smiley, he cleans his glbades.

Caro does something much more pedestrian: he writes reminders to keep quiet.

"When I'm waiting for the person I'm interviewing to break a silence by giving me some information I want, write 'SU' (for Shut Up!) In my notebook "says Caro. "If anyone had to look in my notebooks, he would find a lot of" SU "there."

Whether you are interviewing a subject or interviewing a candidate for a position, the same logic applies: shut up! The way this person reacts to silence could be very telling.

Check out Robert Caro's new book, "Working: Researching, Interviewing, Writing" here.