The hardest thing was learning to write. I was 13, and the only writing I had done was for Social Studies. It consisted of copying passages right out of the encyclopedia

Things were here before you and will be here after you're gone. The geographic features, especially, give you a sense of your own place in the world and in time

...Attempts at imitation would put the emphasis where it didn't belong. The goal was to improve the lives of others, not oneself.

The only real nation is humanity

My big struggle is how people can not care, erase, not remember.

What I like about non-fiction is that it covers such a huge territory. The best non-fiction is also creative

The combination of domesticity and wildness - that's a deep expression