I thought, you know, I would probably not have seen that. On the other hand, he's obviously completely telling the truth. So, then what is that? That's - I wanted to explore that. And then I wanted to talk about how ideas are born. And the big question that the book asks in a number of ways about a number of things is that. How does a new idea come into the world?

I do think that there is such a thing as human nature, and that the things that we have in common are perhaps greater than the things that divide us.

If you want to draw people into the story, you really have to write as if you're writing a novel and make these actually-existing people, including the actually-existing person with my name, into a believable person on the page. And that requires distance. That requires not being right up against the events you're talking about.

Sometimes people have said that Islam, in its own calendar, is still only in the Middle Ages.

A relationship with an imaginary woman is preferable to a relationship with a real one.

The lessons one learns at school are not always the ones the school thinks it's teaching.

I have to say that after some initial resistance, I'm now a complete 'Game of Thrones' addict.