Ian Buruma was born in Holland in 1951. During his Zócalo talk on religion, he remembered Holland as a country that “as late as the 1960s — and people forget this — was still a profoundly religious place. On Sundays, you’d hear very little but various kinds of preaching.” That collapsed over the course of the decade, he said. Before his lecture, Buruma, author of Taming the Gods: Religion and Democracy on Three Continents, told us more about himself.

Q. What comforts you?

A. A good spicy meal and a movie.

Q. When do you feel most creative?

A. When I’m half awake, half asleep.

Q. How would you describe yourself in five words or fewer?

A. Curious.

Q. If you could be anyone in history, who would you be?

A. An 18th century scientist.

Q. What is your favorite thing about Los Angeles?

A. The Chinese food.

Q. What is the best advice you have ever received?

A. That finding love is a battle worth losing.

Q. What is your greatest extravagance?

A. Buying pieces of art.

Q. Where would we find you at 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning?

A. Writing.

Q. What do you wish you had the nerve to do?

A. I don’t really wish. The things I want to do I think I have the nerve to do.

Q. What music have you listened to today?

A. I’ve been driving, so I was listening to a radio station playing American show music of the ’40s and ’50s.

Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?

A. To Vietnam.

Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most want to meet for dinner?

A. Martin Scorsese.

To read about Buruma’s talk, click here.

*Photo by Aaron Salcido.