Leave home, leave the country, leave the familiar. Only then can routine experience--buying bread, eating vegetables, even saying hello--become new all over again.

Things hardly ever work on the first try. We'll make another, a better one.

I always told my dad I'd play professional football.

For me, writing historical fiction is all about finding a balance between reading, traveling, looking, imagining, and dreaming.

Anyone who has spent a few nights in a tent during a storm can tell you: The world doesn't care all that much if you live or die.

Open your eyes and see what you can with them before they close forever.

I write reviews of science books for the Boston Globe, so I like to give science books.