I think it's a terrible mistake to only think in terms of a degree "buying" you something.

My master's degree was in journalism, but everything important I ever learned about being a journalist I learned on the job.

My longest love affair: with a book.

The best education for a writer, I think, is to read a lot - college can be a good place to do that.

Of course we all know people who aren't cut out for college, but I know it's a mistake to think of education only as a route to a better career. Reading books, studying history - all these things contribute to making us better citizens, too.

I would have thought that one of the things one should learn from college is that nothing is guaranteed. Even if you study something as vocational as accountancy, you still may end up not getting a job as an accountant.

Books gave us a way to shape ourselves - to form our thoughts and to signal to each other who we were and who we wanted to be. They were part of our self-fashioning, no less than our clothes.