Steven Solomon, before he wrote Water, was author of The Confidence Game
Q. What’s the last habit you tried to kick?
A. I indulge most of the habits that I have. But I have tried to kick the one I picked up in Italy, which is arriving in meetings 10 minutes after the meeting was supposed to have started.
Q. Who was your childhood hero?
A. Mickey Mantle.
Q. What do you consider to be the greatest simple pleasure?
A. Watching your kids grow up into normal human beings.
Q. Where would we find you at 10 a.m. on a typical Saturday?
A. Trying to catch the last bit of sleep.
Q. What do you do to clear your mind?
A. Take a run.
Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?
A. The Arctic.
Q. What profession would you like to practice in your next life?
A. Maybe I could be the successful fiction writer that I wasn’t in this life.
Q. What teacher or professor changed your life?
A. I went to Occidental College, and I had a professor who taught American Studies. He held a certain high standard for expository writing and hard, critical thinking, which is what I was interested in trying to achieve.
Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most like to meet for dinner?
A. Shakespeare or Dante.
To read more about Solomon’s talk, click here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.