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Isaac Asimov |
Author or editor of over 500 books, including the incredible Foundation Series and I, Robot books. I was led to Asimov by my favorite author at the time, Kurt Vonnegut, who lavished much praise on his prolific friend. Asimov and Vonnegut are now equal in my eyes, Vonnegut for his humanity, Asimov for his down to Earth brilliance, both were presidents of the American Humanist Association
Despite being a member of Mensa (like myself), Asimov was very concerned with bringing complex subjects within the realm of understanding of everyday human beings. He advocated the elimination of English grammar, which he believed was so illogical as to promot illiteracy, deconstructed the Bible so thoroughly it took multiple volumes to cover it, and explained complex scientific subjects with a simplicity that promoted science in common discourse.
I got a treat yesterday as I was listening to NPR, and learned that, despite writing extensively about space travel, Asimov was too afraid to ever fly in a plane. I’ve read Asimov’s own accounts of his longtime resistance to word processors, which, once overcome, dramatically increased his productivity.
He would be 87 today.