Birthdays: Isaac Asimov (1920), Jan Slepian (1921), William Scott Home (1940), Susan Wittig Albert (1940), Andre Aciman (1951), Jimmy Santiago Baca (1952)

Quote: “When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.” – Isaac Asimov

Susan Wittig Albert also wrote under the penname Carolyn Keene of “Nancy Drew” fame. Besides the Nancy Drew mysteries, she also wrote many mysteries under her own name as well as The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter and other series. Asimov is one of my favorite authors. His science fiction is amazing. But…the Nancy Drew books that I grew up on? Those will always hold a special place in my heart.

Asimov is generally considered one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000 letters and postcards. He has works published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System (lacking only an entry in the 100s category of Philosophy).

Asimov is widely considered a master of the science-fiction genre and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, was considered one of the “Big Three” science-fiction writers during his lifetime. Asimov’s most famous work is the Foundation Series. His other major series are the Galactic Empire series and the Robot series, both of which he later tied into the same fictional universe as the Foundation Series to create a unified “future history” for his stories. He wrote numerous short stories, among them “Nightfall”, which in 1964 was voted by the Science Fiction Writers of America the best short science fiction story of all time.