"When I was 22, I bought a Glenn Gould cassette, knowing nothing of Gould's tendency to hum during recordings. I thought there was a defect in the tape and tried to return it." The "snap-shot" style of story-telling is something of a hit and miss affair. One of the best examples I've read was an essay in The New Yorker on David Salle titled "37 False Starts". Their
website really begs the question, so just go to your local library (author? date? sorry.)