Monday, November 25, 2013

Vaclav Smil

I am an incorrigible interdisciplinarian. I was trained in a broad range of basic natural sciences (biology, chemistry, geography, geology) and then branched into energy engineering, population and economic studies and history. For the past 30 years my main effort has gone into writing books that offer new, interdisciplinary perspectives on inherently complex, messy realities.

On Writing

Hemingway knew the secret. I mean, he was a lush and a bad man in many ways, but he knew the secret. You get up and, first thing in the morning, you do your 500 words. Do it every day and you’ve got a book in eight or nine months.
Bill Gates reads you a lot. Who are you writing for?
I have no idea. I just write.

On Apple

Apple! Boy, what a story... When people start playing with color, you know they’re played out.