A Sony.

I love reading about science and its influence on society, next to realty fiction i.e. such as J. Auel's pre-history and Vonnegut's 'Galapagos'. As a sailor I appreciated J. Barth's novels around the Chesapeake Bay. And then there are the numerous modern Dutch writers. Of the elders, J.F. Hermans is my favorite and of the present, the first who comes to my mind is Kluun. But there are many others I enjoy.

None, I left it to the book publisher.

It's full of stuff. There is room for the screen and the keyboard. But to move the mouse, I usually have to push other things out of the way. There are many documents that should have been filed; while the empty box with pipe tobacco should have been replenished.

I was born and lived the first 25 years of my existence in Leiden, The Netherlands. At first the city was full of German soldiers and illegal newspapers impressed me with the importance of written messages. In high school, free again, I initiated and edited a 'First Grade Weekly'. Most of my classmates were also ardent writers of mostly gossip. The activity was responded by students in higher echelons. I became a member of the editorial board of the newly erected school monthly. Ever since I was always surrounded by typewriter addicts.

Writing when I was 4, but real writing at about 12.

In a previous book, 'De Toekomst achter ons', I described how the trust in the scientific method diminished. Later, the scare for manmade climate change deranged into a world wide hype. Together with some colleagues I investigated its scientific roots, which lifted me to the ranks of critics of current climate policies. Some of the phenomena discovered led me to another type of emerging catastrophe, which mankind is preparing itself.

Writing fiction is a source of unexpected surprises. I describe a character and I plunge him or her in the main plot, I had in mind. Then things start to happen. Thanks to the character of my creation - different from mine -they are new. I had not anticipated them. The new developments may even change the overall story. Writing fiction is often fun. Although, I admit, if for one reason or another beloved creations have to leave the scene, it does make me sad. I sometimes even have difficulty to complete such a section.

Translating the present book into English.

Yes it was a strip, a detective story. I was the author and the kid sitting next to me in class made the drawings. It was temporally confiscated by the headmaster and later returned to us with the advice to remove it from the schoolgrounds.