When reporter Sam Anderson called the New Yorker legend for directions to his Princeton home, McPhee said of Anderson’s tiny hometown, “I’ve been there,” and proceeded to recount the story of his mountaintop picnic there decades ago with (of all people) convicted spy Alger Hiss. McPhee remembered the name of the manufacturer of the little incline railway up the mountain (Otis Elevator) and the slope of the incline (60 degrees).