One popular theory is that he comes from Planet Brainiac, where he was such a dunce he had to be exiled to Earth.
My own theory is that Steve has that very rare mental power known as the ability to concentrate. When I peppered him with questions last night about the secrets of his craft, he confessed to the ability to see the shape of a narrative. He said the structure of the book came to him one day while he was jogging — how each part of the book would begin and end, and how the narrative would culminate in the events of Sept. 10, 2001.
Some of us can’t even get our brains around an entire blog item.
— Joel Achenbach writing about collegue and Pulitzer winner Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars