Last year I interviewed several places and saw several different styles.

One question that I thought was subtle yet effective was, “what do you read?” I think you can learn a lot about a person based on this question. Personally, I read a ton online but few printed words, so my answer would be very different than a friend of mine who reads tons of fiction plus scholarly papers (very few blogs or general news). Most companies probably don’t want to hire someone that reads all day–you have to get work done sometime–but someone that stays up-to-date on industry news may perform better as an advisor and someone that reads a wide variety of books may be a good manager.

I felt very at ease asking the question, which is good for both the interviewee and the interviewer. I think we should find out as much as possible about both sides, as comfortably as possible.

So, what do you read?