The loneliness of writing is that you baffle your friends and change the lives of strangers.

In 25 years of writing novels, I've never had anything that felt like writer's block.

The Midwest is such a tabula rasa.

I would say the flip side to my fascination with systems is a fascination with components. So many of my books are dialogues between little and big.

The use of music is to remind us how short a time we have a body.

I really like science because it seems to be that place where you get the big picture, everything connects.

Everything interests me.