People are always invoking evolutionary psychology for everything. "Why do men hang around asking women out? Oh, to improve their reproductive success," every damn thing - religion, art - it can all be explained by evolutionary psychology. But in our hearts we know that evolutionary psychology is only sort of accurate, because it really doesn't capture what's most interesting about our lives.

Comfort and solace come about differently for different people.

Any good biography has to got to lead you to the work. Many biographers have started out in love with their subjects and ended up hating them.

People are always invoking evolutionary psychology for everything. "Why do men hang around asking women out? Oh, to improve their reproductive success," every damn thing - religion, art - it can all be explained by evolutionary psychology. But in our hearts we know that evolutionary psychology is only sort of accurate, because it really doesn't capture what's most interesting about our lives.

Grammar, he saw, was agreement, community, consensus.

I didn't go through anyone's garbage. People brought what they felt I needed to know to me.

As a writer I'm not an explainer, really. I'm a narrator. I mistrust explanation.