We will live with racism for ever. But senses of self, senses of belonging, senses of us and of others? Those are up for grabs.

We don't consider the roles that we're taking in making the world the way it is.

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.

Evil is the refusal to see one's self in others.

Science is not about control. It is about cultivating a perpetual condition of wonder in the face of something that forever grows one step richer and subtler than our latest theory about it. It is about reverence, not mastery.

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

The 'information novel' shouldn't be a curiosity. It should be absolutely mainstream.