For more than 30 years Robert Fisk has been reporting on the Middle East.

Resident in Beirut the English journalist needs little introduction to those with even a passing interest in world affairs. Today, Fisk is undoubtedly one of the best know journalists in the world of any sort and continues to report from the frontline of Middle Eastern conflict.

His trenchant views, and passionate opinions have earned him high praise and severe criticism. Whatever the reader's views there is no doubt that his work will form one of the central resources for those wishing to research the Middle East from the mid-20th century to the early 21st. When I was asked to interview Mr Fisk to promote his upcoming lecture at UCC I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew he would be knowledgeable and I knew he would be interesting, but to be honest I didn't expect him to be much fun.

Despite a career spent reporting from the most dangerous places in the world and staring human tragedy of biblical proportions in the face you'd forgive Robert Fisk if he were a little bit dour. In fact the first thing that struck me about him was his cheerful manner and evident sense of humour. There are many sides to Robert Fisk, as evidenced by his new book The Age of the Warrior, unlike his previous best-seller, The Great War for Civilisation this is not a chronological narrative of his reporting but a compendium of his Saturday columns from the Independent newspaper.

As he explains, the book presented a different challenge than his previous efforts, "The column in the Independent can be about anything. If I want to write about the weather in Cork or Henry the VIII I can, it's totally up to me. What that does is it makes you look at yourself.

"Going back over the columns you see themes emerge and it teaches you about yourself. It shows you what you are interested in which can be quite daunting," he says.

Because the column doesn't lend itself to a chronological book, Fisk decided to organise the book by theme and doing so revealed a side to himself that he wasn't overjoyed with.

"It became clear pretty soon that I write a lot about death, you might even say it's an obsession. The themes are all pretty dark."

Given his professional life that's probably understandable but what does that tell Robert Fisk about himself?

"I did come to a point where I was sitting in my apartment in Beirut and I thought to myself 'I'm not really happy'. After a lifetime doing this job I did think would I have been happier if I'd chosen a different path, if I hadn't accepted that posting to the Middle East".

It's surprising to hear somebody who has reached the pinnacle of their profession question his decisions in such a way, but ultimately Fisk knows it couldn't have been any other way.

"In the end, of course I know if I had the choice I'd do it all again. I've had my moments, but I'm still here and I'm still enjoying it."

When it comes to the big questions however, Fisk's chirpy demeanour quickly disappears. The future of Palestine, for so long pivotal to world affairs is still for Fisk the biggest challenge and he isn't optimistic about it.