You can always tell a Midwestern couple in Europe because they will be standing on a traffic island in the middle of a busy intersection looking at a windblown map and arguing over which way is west. European cities, with their wandering streets and undisciplined alleys, drive Midwesterners practically insane.

Geologists are never at a loss for paperweights.

Making English grammar conform to Latin rules is like asking people to play baseball using the rules of football.

Britain still has the most reliably beautiful countryside of anywhere in the world. I would hate to be part of the generation that allowed that to be lost.

Not writing the same kind of book over and over again is to me the real pleasure of what I do.

Where I grew up, in Des Moines, Iowa, there is hardly any downtown economic activity now. Everybody shops in malls - you don't find a sense of community in malls.

Most of what has lived on Earth has left behind no record at all.