Trying to find ideas is the hardest part of my job. You'd think it would be the most fun. Just sitting around… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
In hunting ideas for books, I look for stories about long-past events that once commanded the world's attention but that, for one… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
At first glance, the story of the Lusitania doesn't seem like the sort of thing I would take on. I usually like… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
I was once again looking for a book idea, and I remembered Holmes, but I specifically remembered that there was this World's… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
There is no secret orchard where ideas grow. Oh my, do I wish there were. — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
The reason I choose the stories I choose - and it's why it takes me so long to find ideas - is… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
For 'Thunderstruck', I discarded about a dozen ideas. And then one afternoon, I was thinking about wireless. I don't know why. I… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
Whenever I finish a book, I start with a blank slate and never have ideas lined up. — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
At some point in the idea process, I simply wear myself down and force myself to choose. But here's the thing: Once… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
I've heard from the movie marketplace that James Cameron did such a killer job with 'Titanic' that it's almost impossible to do anything better. — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
As a rule, I am very skeptical of tying books to anniversaries. I don't think readers care. I also feel that it just about… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
“look as if they had been plucked from the Palace of Versailles or a Jacobean mansion—that you were aboard a ship being propelled far… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
That's what I love about history - nuance. I don't believe in unalloyed heroes. Everyone's got warts, and everyone's got a surprise side. — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
“Holmes was charming and gracious, but something about him made Belknap uneasy. He could not have defined it. Indeed, for the next several decades… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
. . . why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow. — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
“At present," he said, "I am responsible for conveying my associates to a place called Chicago. I understand it is somewhere in the hinterland.” — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
I knew from an online search that the Wisconsin State Historical Society, on the vast University of Wisconsin campus, held the papers of Sigrid… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
Dodd continued to hope that the murders would so outrage the German public that the regime would fall, but as the days passed he… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
I envy other writers who claim to have a backlog of books they'd like to write. — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
Trying to find ideas is the hardest part of my job. You'd think it would be the most fun. Just sitting around reading whatever… — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
“Her blind endorsement of Hitler’s regime first faded to a kind of sympathetic skepticism, but as summer approached,” — Erik Larson Copy Share Image
