"A water route to Chinese trade replacing the long, arduous Silk Road was a great dream of the Renais..." — Mark Kurlansky

I always wanted an extraordinary life. When it's over, I want to be able to say that I did it.

I'm friends with Studs Terkel.

I'm usually writing about survival. I never planned it, but it runs through all my books.

It's harder to kill off fish than mammals. But after 1,000 years of hunting the Atlantic cod, we know that it can be done.