I only saw one English-speaking person all the way across Siberia..

A book tour is not a good opportunity to let your mind wander. You have to pay attention, remember salespeople's and interviewers' names, succinctly ….

Despite the obvious benefits, many Americans do not like Texas. Some even say they despise Texas, and make no secret of their feelings..

When I needed to think or was really upset, generally I climbed a tree..

Russians don't complain, usually..

Leading economists have shown that by shrinking Texas, we can actually create more income for Texas in the long run..

Every once in a while, people need to be in the presence of things that are really far away..

When the days start to get shorter, I want to be in some nice brick building on the East Coast with the lights glowing in the windows. When the dayli….

I don't want to participate in traditional Indian religious ceremonies - dance in a sun dance or pray in a sweat lodge or go on a vision quest with t….

I don't want to collect Indian art, though pots and beadwork and blankets made by Indians remain the most beautiful art objects in the American West,….

Everything in Russia is made of cement - phone booths, fence posts and light bulbs..

There's an idea of the Plains as the middle of nowhere, something to be contemptuous of. But it's really a heroic place..

Human connection is the way things work. It's like a patronage system. You know somebody, and he knows somebody, and he knows somebody, and he knows ….

Roy Blount is so funny, and he sounds like he's just talking, and the next thing you know he has tossed off an essay as elegant and intricately str….

Cursing dads are terrifying, you know? Cursing dads are - I don't know why, but no. It just doesn't seem to me that that would be funny. I mean it mi….

Words are charms. It's like a song you didn't even know you knew..

Sometimes travel is merely an opportunity taken when you can..

Siberia is so big, it’s almost more an idea than a place.

People in Russia adapt to misery by a deep, deep humor..

I don't have a disregard for my reader in humor pieces..

I think what is important for things to be funny is if you the listener, or the reader, get a chance to supply the humor of it yourself..