I'm fascinated by the narrative of geology, and I'm a veritable pack rat of a collector on the road. I keep a rock hammer in my car.

Asking anyone what she or he is reading is a necessary part of conversation, exchanging news. So I take recommendations from friends - and I always pass along a book I've loved.

I take the world very personally. I take history personally; I want to place myself in the larger context.

You think you know someone by looking at his face but what can one face say about the thousand thoughts behind those eyes.

I think what you can’t see is always what you should be frightened of.

I don't remember being a child, and that's why I think I'm so child-like now in my unending curiosity and approach to life.

I was a very, very old child. Sometimes you meet a child who seems more like an adult. I think I was that type of child because I had a nearly fatal kidney disease when I was 9 years old.