I just write the sort of book that I would enjoy reading myself, a book that is both scholarly and recreates the experience of people at that time.
My expertise is the space program and what it should be in the future based on my experience of looking at the transitions that we've made between pre-Sputnik days and getting to the moon.
Any observations from the Moon or a sense of realising this or that about the greater meaning of things wasn't as influential for me as the experience of coming back and dealing with being a person who's been to the Moon.
Astronauts working for the government will always need to be either pilots or mission specialists. Those who want to be pilots should have military experience - ideally, a test pilot background.
My own experience being bullied - it made me a more compassionate person. It made me more sympathetic to the adolescent experience.
Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
It is as true for the writer as for the reader that any novel worth its ink should be an experience first and foremost - not an essay, not a statement, not an orderly rollout of themes and propositions.
But beginners to the World Economics Forum have to understand there is no single Davos experience, and there is no single Davos community either. There are numerous tribes who interact only at a minimal level.
Every day is a learning experience for city kids, and they are really sort of forced to interact with everyone around them and develop into social beings.
Religion points to that area of human experience where in one way or another man comes upon mystery as a summons to pilgrimage.
No one ever pretended that shopping for anything is a rational experience. If it were, would there be Fluffernutter? Laceless sneakers? Porkpie hats? Would the Chia Pet even exist?
I spent 10 years as a marketing manager. I've found my experience in the financial world invaluable background for writing about white-collar crimes.
Good fiction reveals feeling, refines events, locates importance and, though its methods are as mysterious as they are varied, intensifies the experience of living our own lives.
I need to tone up, as I eat a lot of fast food. I love Maccy D's, Subway and Domino's.
You can't have a decent food culture without a decent coffee culture: the two things grow up together.
What I used to do between writing fits was feed my kids, ride my horse and go shopping for cat and dog food.
You can't go wrong with relatively simple comfort food. It's also about ease. Some cook to impress. I cook for people to enjoy the food.
One of the things I do as a food writer is to take a classic recipe made with meat, look at it a whole lot, and tinker with it according to my taste.
The food in such places is so tasteless because the members associate spices and garlic with just the sort of people they're trying to keep out.
Most fast food is fried. Fried food tastes great, and people don't seem to care about the fat aspect.
Like Hollywood movies, MTV and blue jeans, fast food has become one of America's major cultural exports.
