Most of my childhood revolved around wondering when we would be blown up by the Russians. I couldn't stand the news, I knew that if the missile were launched, mortality would arrive in half an hour, so I spent a lot of my childhood feeling that I was 30 minutes from being dead.

People with good intentions never give up!

I was asked by an editor to consider writing something about an American inventor. I asked him if he knew who invented the computer. He said he didn't. In that case, I told him, I should write a book about John Vincent Atanasoff.

There are several methods for introducing your children to driving, and all of them are bad. Probably the worst is to put it off.

In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it.

Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.

Well, in fact everybody - everybody - in the entire nation has enough stuff in their life to write about that's interesting that they could write their autobiography. And in the end that's why I find people interesting.