I think there is no culture in which music is not very important and central. That's why I think of us as a sort of musical species.

When I was five, I am told, and asked what my favorite things in the world were, I answered, smoked salmon and Bach.

Although I think it is wonderful to have the whole world of music available in something that small and to have it conveyed with such fidelity almost straight into the brain, I think the technology is also a danger.

Elements and birthdays have been intertwined for me since boyhood, when I learned about atomic numbers.

We see with the eyes, but we see with the brain as well. And seeing with the brain is often called imagination.

The brain is more than an assemblage of autonomous modules, each crucial for a specific mental function. Every one of these functionally specialized areas must interact with dozens or hundreds of others, their total integration creating something like a vastly complicated orchestra with thousands of instruments, an orchestra that conducts itself, with an ever-changing score and repertoire.

I feel I should be trying to complete my life, whatever completing a life means.