It's this mood, these sentiments - the excitement of exploration and the surprises and delights of travel to foreign locales - that I hope to inspire with this book.

There are people who would love to spend their last ten years, or five years, or whatever it is, on the surface of Mars.

Every mode of travel has its signature mental aberration.

In 'Packing for Mars,' I tried to convey the importance of getting young people interested in science.

Hormones are nature's three bottles of beer.

The way I see it, being dead is not terribly far off from being on a cruise ship. Most of your time is spent lying on your back. The brain has shut down. The flesh begins to soften. Nothing much new happens, and nothing is expected of you.

The writing is always the easy part, provided I can get the good material. It's the getting of the good material that's a challenge.