Most fourth graders can't say why Abraham Lincoln is an important historical figure? Wow. This is far more distressing than if the news had been that fourth graders were bad at reciting multiplication tables, because you can, in fact, Google that.

Sometimes, the Internet can feel like a middle-school playground populated by brats in ski masks who name-call and taunt with the fake bravery of the anonymous. But sometimes - thank goodness - it's nicer than real life.

Every single one of my books had its title changed almost as we were going to press, for all sorts of different reasons.

I can imagine a future in which real books will exist but in a more limited, particular way.

I would argue that it might be easier to endure loneliness than to endure the idea that you might disappear.

Animals can seem more pure. Without complication, I mean, animals are selfless. What animals do for us, they do out of instinct.

I've used Twitter now and again to try to figure something out; it's an amazing resource. But I think you have to use it judiciously: it's a self-selected group, so it's important not to start thinking of it as the whole world.