Stuff
Marcelo Gleiser Revealed
About Marcelo Gleiser
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What is your birthdate?:3/19
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Previous occupations:Always physicist
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Favorite job:Physics research and writing
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High school and/or college:Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Name of your favorite composer or music artist?:Gustav Mahler
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Favorite movie:Dersu Uzala (by Kurosawa)
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Favorite television show:Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart
Revealing Questions
- Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
- A. A quest for finding meaning
- Q. What is your motto or maxim?
- A. Rage, rage against the dying of the light
- Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
- A. No one can define perfect happiness; there is only imperfect happiness. And it's this imperfection that makes the happiness we find more valuable. My happiness is bound to the well-being of my family, friends, and the planet we live in.
- Q. What’s your greatest fear?
- A. To live a meaningless life
- Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
- A. Fernando de Noronha, an ecological paradise off the coast of Brazil.
- Q. With whom in history do you most identify?
- A. Johannes Kepler (but I shower!)
- Q. Which living person do you most admire?
- A. Steven Spielberg
- Q. What are your most overused words or phrases?
- A. Guess what? Can you believe this?
- Q. What do you regret most?
- A. Having smoked for a while
- Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
- A. Play the piano (I play guitar...)
- Q. What is your greatest achievement?
- A. Having inspired people toward science
- Q. What’s your greatest flaw?
- A. Work too much
- Q. What’s your best quality?
- A. Respect for others
- Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
- A. The Space Station
- Q. What trait is most noticeable about you?
- A. Kindness (hopefully)
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
- A. Peter Pan
- Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
- A. Dracula
- Q. If you could meet any historical character, who would it be and what would you say to him or her?
- A. John Lennon The world misses you terribly.
- Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?
- A. No one touches my espresso machine
- Q. What is your favorite occupation, when you’re not writing?
- A. Fly fishing
- Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
- A. Musician
- Q. What 3 personal qualities are most important to you?
- A. Honesty, kindness, curiosity
- Q. If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your days, what would it be?
- A. Pasta
- Q. What are your 5 favorite songs?
- A. 1. Choral of Beethoven's 9th; 2. Fool on the Hill (Beatles); 3. Julia (Beatles); 4. Desafinado (Tom Jobim); 5. Triste Bahia (Caetano Veloso)
On Books and Writing
- Q. Who are your favorite authors?
- A. José Saramago Jorge Luis Borges Edgar Alan Poe Oscar Wilde Umberto Eco Ian McEwan Michael Chabon Salman Rushdie Fiodor Dostoevsky Voltaire
- Q. What are your 5 favorite books of all time?
- A. Blindness (Saramago) Short Stories (Wilde) Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky) The Moor's Last Sigh (Rushdie) Dracula (Bram Stoker)
- Q. Is there a book you love to reread?
- A. The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery) w/ my kids
- Q. Do you have one sentence of advice for new writers?
- A. Take criticism seriously but don't let it taint your passion
- Q. What comment do you hear most often from your readers?
- A. I didn't know science could be so awe-inspiring
- Q. How did you come to write Tear at the Edge of Creation?
- A. After years searching for a "final" answer, as a scientist and as a person, I realized that none exists. The force of this revelation was so intense and life transforming that I felt compelled to share it with others. It completely changed the way I think about Nature and our place in it.
