54
WBM june 2012
right in this room. I was in the foyer
of the theater where they have the
Academy Awards, and everybody was
crowded in. Everywhere you looked it
was George Clooney, or Julia Roberts,
or Tom Hanks. I’m butting elbows
with someone short, so I turn around
to sort of apologize and it was Paul
McCartney.
WBM What’s that emotional swing
like? What was the journey like
going from fearing for your life in
Somalia, writing the book, to going
to all these premieres?
MB One I would do again gladly and
the other I wouldn’t; I mean, it was
great. The book was so successful
that it far exceeded any expectations
I had for anything that I would ever
write. That was a book that was on
the New York Times Best Seller list for
a long time, and was nominated for a
National Book Award. It had about as
much success that it could have with
a book if you’re not Stephen King or
writing for mass audiences.
WBM Is there a story that you regret
that you haven’t done yet?
MB I still want to write a story about
building the tallest building in the
world, and Vanity Fair was actually
on board. I was going to write about
the Freedom Tower. I wanted to write
it just because I love science stories. I
love stories about infrastructure, how
things actually are built. There was
so much political wrangling and stuff
in New York over who was going to
build it — whether or not it was going
to be built — that it eventually got to
be such a tangle that I walked away
from it. But now that it’s almost done,
I look at that thing and go, “Oh that’s
a story that I could’ve written that I
would’ve really liked to do.” I could
probably come up with 10 more … I
think of things all the time that would
make fascinating stories that I’ve never
had a chance to write.