Travel books are all sorts - some are autobiographies, some are about falling in love. Some are about having great meals, some are about suffering. There are as many different kinds of travel books as there are novels. People think a travel book is one thing. It's many things.

You can't save the rhinos and you can't preserve a culture. I'm very pessimistic. Once it's gone, it's over.

There has to be a measure of difficulty or problem-solving in travel for it to be worthwhile.

The Australian Book of Etiquette is a very slim volume.

I like the idea of isolation, I like the idea of solitude. You can be connected and have a phone and still be lonely.

A novel captures essence that is not possible in any other form.

They say that if the Swiss had designed these mountains they'd be rather flatter.