The brave view is that talking it out helps work it out. Maybe the realistic view is that talking it out inflames the issues further. But that is America, especially these days.

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.

I suspected that there were things he knew that I had been waiting all my life to learn.

The thing about Republicans is that they don't care so much about respect, but they love fear, at least in others.

Sometimes, a novel is like a train: the first chapter is a comfortable seat in an attractive carriage, and the narrative speeds up. But there are other sorts of trains, and other sorts of novels. They rush by in the dark; passengers framed in the lighted windows are smiling and enjoying themselves.

The fundamental condition of childhood is powerlessness.

I had spent years thinking about one thing while I was doing another. I had, in fact, prided myself on being able to do two things at once.