Weighing the prose and cons

AS a journalist, author, and photographer, William T Vollmann has seen and experienced his share of violence, pain, and joy from travelling the world on assignments. He has interviewed Burmese warlord and "Opium King" Khun Sa, and almost froze to death at the North Pole while retracing Captain John Franklin's fateful expedition there in 1845. He even donned a wig and dress just to walk around the streets at night as his female alter ego, Dolores.

And with every project he embarks on, Vollmann has kept in mind a lesson from 19th-century author, philosopher and polymath Henry David Thoreau - that it is important not to let knowledge become an obstruction to ignorance.

Says 55-year-old Vollmann: "As long as we remember that we are ignorant, then we have a chance of learning something. But as soon as we say "I know this", then that door will be closed for us, and I like to have many doors open... I think it's better not to think that I know anything at first, but then it's my job to become as educated as I can."