Ever since childhood, when I lived within earshot of the Boston and Maine, I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it.

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

Tourists who go to Africa have more of a traditional experience than Africans do. A tourist goes on safari; Africans don't.

It's only when you're alone that you realize where you are. You have nothing to fall back on except your own resources.

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

Fiction gives us a second chance that life denies us.

Mark Twain was a great traveler and he wrote three or four great travel books. I wouldn't say that I'm a travel novelist but rather a novelist who travels - and who uses travel as a background for finding stories of places.