If one book's done this well, you want to write another one that does just as well. There's that horror of the second novel that doesn't match up.

Most adults, unlike most children, understand the difference between a book that will hold them spellbound for a rainy Sunday afternoon and a book that will put them in touch with a part of themselves they didn't even know existed.

I could invent another world. I'm not terribly keen on this one.

And what he meant was that maths wasn't like life because in life there are no straightforward answers in the end

..because when we look up into the sky at night there will be no darkness, just the blazing light of billions and billions of stars, all falling.

Most of my work consisted of crossing out. Crossing out was the secret of all good writing.

I read very, very little fiction as a kid. All the books I can remember are junior science books.