tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72545425871633642692011-07-08T02:49:10.850+02:00The Storytellers Web is a blog dedicated to the magic of amazing books and the spells they weave over us.Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.comBlogger611100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-39038608298015707562010-02-12T17:44:00.004+02:002010-02-12T17:55:37.188+02:00

Excerpt taken from the brilliant "Ah, but your land is beautiful" by Alan Paton. The book is about real people and real events which occured in South Africa during the 1950s, just as Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd was laying the foundations of his plan for total segregation of the races. This particular piece gives the reader a vivid and frightening look into the tactics of the Security Police during this

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Below are two excerpts taken from Aspects of South African Literature by Herman Charles Bosman. It is food for thought on the effects of racism and colonialism on Africa. Bosman's use of irony is, as always, in fine form."Some years ago it was fashionable for a European tourist to explore some part of Africa, and after he had spent a week or two on the Dark Continent, to return to Europe and to

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-80190436888978650292009-10-10T22:57:00.003+02:002009-10-10T23:01:07.471+02:00

A Prayerby Sara TeasdaleWhen I am dying, let me knowThat I loved the blowing snowAlthough it stung like whips;That I loved all lovely thingsAnd I tried to take their stingsWith gay unembittered lips;That I loved with all my strength,To my soul's full depth and length,Careless if my heart must break,That I sang as children singFitting tunes to everything,Loving life for its own sake. American poet

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-86881584914801603852009-10-09T15:35:00.004+02:002009-10-09T16:01:44.550+02:00

I like to think of myself as a bit of a snob when it comes to books. There are some things I just wouldn't touch with a ten-foot barge pole, and neither should you. Here are my criteria for book rejection in no particular order:1. Chick-lit: a so-called “bestseller” that thinly veils the writer’s previous job working for Mills and Boon. Yes, we know that sex and romance sells. It sells to vacuous

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-75909115440643747112009-10-07T12:44:00.003+02:002009-10-07T13:01:36.616+02:00

Songby Samuel Taylor ColeridgeTho' veiled in spires of myrtle-wreath,Love is a sword that cuts its sheath,And thro' the clefts, itself has made,We spy the flashes of the Blade !But thro' the clefts, itself has made,We likewise see Love's flashing blade,By rust consumed or snapt in twain :And only Hilt and Stump remain.Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834) was an English poet,

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-52665364313864180042009-10-07T10:19:00.003+02:002009-10-07T10:34:58.206+02:00

The latest American craze, Amazon's e-book reader, better known as the Kindle, is now being made available in most countries, including South Africa. From October 19th, the Kindle will be available in over 100 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and South America, and will retail for around $279, which is equivalent to roughly R2100.The Kindle uses 3G wireless technology utilised by most mobile

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-1332692919444637042009-10-07T09:17:00.003+02:002009-10-07T09:39:54.149+02:00

The winner of the 2009 Booker Prize has finally been announced after much anticipation - British-born Hilary Mantel with her intricate historical novel Wolf Hall. Fighting off stiff competition from two-time Booker Prize winner and my personal favourite to win, South African J. M. Coetzee, Mantel has picked up the prize and a lovely $80,000 cheque for her efforts.Mantel's novel charts the chaos

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-52337839299820860632009-10-02T12:54:00.003+02:002009-10-02T13:04:03.303+02:00

Old Adam, the Carrion Crowby Thomas Lovell BeddoesOld Adam, the carrion crow,The old crow of Cairo;He sat in the shower, and let it flowUnder his tail and over his crest;And through every featherLeak'd the wet weather;And the bough swung under his nest;For his beak it was heavy with marrow.Is that the wind dying? O no;It's only two devils, that blow,Through a murderer's bones, to and fro,In the

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-65404524190645763762009-10-01T10:16:00.004+02:002009-10-01T11:48:51.074+02:00

In keeping with the theme of favourites, here are some of the best children’s books of all time. In no particular order. And just because you're an adult it doesn't mean you can't read kid's books. In fact, I recommend it.The Harry Potter series (but of course) – J.K. RowlingHarry Potter is an ordinary boy who lives in a cupboard under the stairs at his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's house,

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-88760010735357618832009-10-01T10:10:00.002+02:002009-10-01T10:12:38.126+02:00

I AmI am: yet what I am none cares or knows,My friends forsake me like a memory lost;I am the self-consumer of my woes,They rise and vanish in oblivious host,Like shades in love and death's oblivion lost;And yet I am! and live with shadows tostInto the nothingness of scorn and noise,Into the living sea of waking dreams,Where there is neither sense of life nor joys,But the vast shipwreck of my

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A friend of mine asked me last week to compile a list of must-read books. I gave it a bit of thought and decided to separate my favourites into various categories. So here is my list of books I have read that I felt have changed me in some way and the way I see the world.The Kite Runner – Khaled HosseniTwelve-year-old Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father and resolves to win the

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-62673677836003496132009-09-14T09:32:00.000+02:002009-09-14T09:33:36.623+02:00

"Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil... prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon."Terry Prachett

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-25165350286848085422009-09-11T09:44:00.003+02:002009-09-11T09:49:52.200+02:00

An extended quote from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel, The Last Continent. It is a parody about all things Australian. Rincewind had attracted the attention of at least one other watcher apart from whatever it was that dwelt in the waterhole.Death had taken to keeping Rincewind's lifetimer on a special shelf in his study, in much the way that a zoologist would want to keep an eye on a

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Terry Pratchett is one of those people whom you could say was born to be a writer. Born in Buckinghamshire in 1948, he began his career as a journalist in 1965 at the tender age of 17. When interviewing a publisher in 1968, he mentioned that he had written a book, The Carpet People. In 1971 it was published and the reviews were good, if few. The Dark Side of the Sun and Strata followed in 1978

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Good news for South Africans - we may be plagued by troubles in the sporting department, but at least we have one South African doing us proud. J.M. Cotzee has made it through to the shortlist of this year's Booker Prize for his book, Summertime. Coetzee won the Booker for Disgrace in 1999 and The Life and Times of Michael K in 1983 as well as the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003.With two

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-22087666094087508812009-09-08T09:11:00.001+02:002009-09-08T09:15:05.733+02:00

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-91673813491299203452009-09-08T09:09:00.002+02:002009-09-08T09:17:10.551+02:00

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-46559677039530755992009-09-08T09:00:00.000+02:002009-09-08T09:01:17.273+02:00

"Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living things, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on the earth. I said then and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a criminal element, I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."Eugene V. Debs

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“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket - safe, dark,

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-46161392394021974672009-09-03T13:06:00.004+02:002009-09-03T13:17:41.474+02:00

Next week an exciting literary event will be taking place for all book lovers, especially those who, like me, have a passion for Indian and African authors. The South Africa-India literary festival “Words on Water: South Africa and India in conversation” will be held at the Origins Centre at Wits on Friday 12th September and at the Wanderers’ Club on Saturday 13th September.Indian best-selling

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-80424900084388111722009-09-02T16:23:00.001+02:002009-09-02T16:23:47.151+02:00

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

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"You can understand and relate to most people better if you look at them - no matter how old or impressive they may be - as if they are children. For most of us never really grow up or mature all that much - we simply grow taller. O, to be sure, we laugh less and play less and wear uncomfortable disguises like adults, but beneath the costume is the child we always are, whose needs are simple,

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As you may have noticed, I have not selected an author to feature for this week, due in part to the physical demands of Ramadan, lack of sleep and general malaise. I have also resolved to spend a little more time writing on a couple of projects I started on a while ago and put on hold when I started the blog. But that doesn't mean the Storytellers Web is going to come to a standstill. Next week

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-90137378537179677042009-09-01T15:50:00.000+02:002009-09-01T15:51:01.887+02:00

"I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him."Mark Twain

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-72746346175456405392009-09-01T12:52:00.001+02:002009-09-01T12:52:54.036+02:00

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-29493308926054335992009-08-27T20:34:00.002+02:002009-08-27T20:39:49.226+02:00

"This was the war of Bronkhorstspruit and General Colley and Laing's Nek. You have no doubt heard many accounts of this war, some of them truthful, perhaps. For it is a singular thing that, as a man grows older, and looks back on fights that he has been in, he keeps on remembering, each year, more and more of the enemy that he has shot.Klaas Uys was a man like that. Each year, on his birthday, he

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-55029877905664127682009-08-27T15:50:00.000+02:002009-08-27T15:51:50.522+02:00

"Stoffel Oosthuizen added that, no matter what the difference in the colour of their skin had been, it was impossible to say that the kaffir's bones were less white than Hans Welman's. Nor was it possible to say that the kaffir's sun-dried flesh was any blacker than the white. Alive, you couldn't go wrong in distinguishing between a white man and a kaffir. Dead, you had great difficulty in

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-19687846317241630252009-08-27T15:25:00.002+02:002009-08-27T15:28:26.264+02:00

"So as a prelude, whites must be made to realise that they are only human, not superior. Same with Blacks. They must be made to realise that they are also human, not inferior."Steven Biko

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-41088651120555214762009-08-27T15:10:00.000+02:002009-08-27T15:11:19.764+02:00

"Of course, I know about history - Oom Schalk Lourens said - it's the stuff children learn in school. Only the other day, at Thys Lemmer's post office, Thys's little son Stoffel started reading out of his history book about a man called Vasco da Gama, who visited the Cape. At once Dirk Snyman started telling young Stoffel about the time when he himself visited the Cape, but young Stoffel didn't

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An excerpt from “Bechuana Interlude” by Herman Charles Bosman“When he had filled the whole sheet of blotting paper with small circles, Johnny de Clerk stopped talking and put the printed documents in order.‘I have proved to you why you should be insured for a thousand pounds, Oom Piet,’ he said. ‘So just sign your name here.’Piet Venter shook his head.‘Oh no,’ he replied. ‘I don’t want to.’‘But

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-23334187540764708912009-08-25T15:37:00.002+02:002009-08-25T15:39:51.918+02:00

* Herman Charles Bosman’s collection of short stories, Mafeking Road, has never been out of print since it was first published in 1947.*He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Herman Malan, which was his mother’s maiden name.*He wrote a number of Afrikaans short stories and poems that were published in numerous Afrikaans magazines. In 2001 a collection of his Afrikaans short stories with the title

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-36858287582294358292009-08-25T11:23:00.004+02:002009-08-25T11:30:27.452+02:00

Our featured author for this week takes us on an incredible journey into the past – to the days of the Boer War, the rule of the British in South Africa and the dusty roads of the Groot Marico. To say that Herman Charles Bosman was an extraordinary writer would be an understatement in the extreme. The mark he has left on South African literature, I would hope, is impossible to erase. Born in the

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-32950160390573952812009-08-25T09:19:00.000+02:002009-08-25T09:20:34.384+02:00

"In battling evil, excess is good; for he who is moderate in announcing the truth is presenting half-truth. He conceals the other half out of fear of the people's wrath."Kahlil Gibran, 'Narcotics and Dissecting Knives,' Thoughts and Meditations, 1960

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-26442340082725625722009-08-21T15:59:00.002+02:002009-08-21T16:07:31.880+02:00

Next week’s author is the South African literary giant Herman Charles Bosman. If you are as old and wrinkly as I am, you may remember studying HCB in school, and I am quite sad to note that it has been removed from the list of school set books by the Department of Education, probably because of the repeated use of the word “kaffir” in his Oom Schalk Lourens stories. Although it is an

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-30175072566302151662009-08-21T15:27:00.000+02:002009-08-21T15:28:39.391+02:00

“I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite.”G. K. Chesterton

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-19267057076706441092009-08-21T15:02:00.004+02:002009-08-21T15:06:39.886+02:00

The oldest book in the world was written in the lost Etruscan language and was found 60 years ago in a tomb uncovered by excavators in south-western Bulgaria. The book is comprised of six 24-carat solid gold pages and is believed to be around 2,500 years old.The Etruscans are believed to have migrated from modern western Turkey, settling in northern and central Italy nearly 3,000 years ago and

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-69911742496100328702009-08-21T10:26:00.002+02:002009-08-21T10:29:42.169+02:00

Three of Google's largest rivals are joining a coalition to oppose a legal settlement that would give the Internet search leader digital rights to millions of copyrighted books.Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon.com are all part of a group called the Open Book Alliance. It's being put together by the Internet Archive, a longtime critic of Google's digital book crusade.Google contends its rivals'

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This week’s reviews on Tahir Shah were very fun to do as he is one of my favourite authors. Unfortunately, he was unable to give us an interview due to time constraints – he tells me he’s working on something very exciting and time-consuming but as yet he can’t give us any details. We will definitely be keeping our eyes peeled for news on that front.

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"But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you are poor devils like us, that your mothers are just as anxious as ours, and that we have the same fear of death, and the same dying and

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“The torture chamber was ready for use. There were harnesses for hanging the prisoners upside-down, rows of sharp-edged batons, and smelling salts, used syringes filled with dark liquids and worn leather straps, tourniquets, clamps, pliers, and equipment for smashing the feet. On the floor there was a central drain, and on the walls and every surface, dried blood – plenty of it. I was manacled,

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"The fact that the Caliph's House is located where it is - slap bang in the middle of the city's prime shantytown - gives us a window into a world where people are less financially fortunate. As time has passed, we have developed an abiding respect for everyone who lives in the bidonville. The people who live there may not have pockets lined with money, but their heads are screwed on right. Their

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"When you hire a Moroccan maid, you imagine she will cook, clean and generally help to run the house. You believe this because at the first meeting she paints a vision of tremendous comfort - the clothes washed and expertly ironed, the house spic-and-span, delicious meals bubbling away on the stove. If you're lucky, there's a honeymoon which lasts a week or ten days. After that she settles into

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"Every author really wants to have letters printed in the papers. Unable to make the grade, he drops down a rung of the ladder and writes novels."P. G. Wodehouse

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-10757709529366847082009-08-18T18:44:00.001+02:002009-08-21T10:20:18.587+02:00

The Caliph’s House was a book written by Shah when he took the decision to move his family from the security and dullness of life in England to a new life in Morocco. Shah buys a haunted palace called Dar Khalifa (the Caliph’s House) in the middle of a Casablanca bidonville (slum) and the book documents the struggles the family has trying to adjust to life in an unfamiliar country. Dar Khalifa is

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-78874493472075747812009-08-18T10:31:00.000+02:002009-08-18T10:32:38.622+02:00

"The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much."- Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

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Tahir Shah's book Trail of Feathers (2001) investigated the notion that men may have been able to fly. Having read an ancient Spanish manuscript that stated "the Incas flew over the jungle like birds", Shah set off on a journey to the Peruvian Amazon. After research that included a stay with the Shuar tribe, Shah concluded that the Incas partook of a powerful hallucinogen called Ayahuasca which

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Tahir Shah hails from a distinguished Afghan family, but was brought up in England and is the author of more than a dozen books and several documentary films. Shah is the son of well-known Sufi teacher, poet and writer Idries Shah and his paternal great-grandfather was the nawab of Sardhana in UP, India.Growing up, Shah was greatly influenced by the teachings of his father, who drummed into him

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"It is not permissible to add to one's possesions if these things can only be done at the cost of other men. Such development has only one true name, and that is exploitation."- Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-17619884778054748662009-08-16T09:54:00.002+02:002009-08-16T09:58:20.677+02:00

Although the Kindle e-book reader was launched in a blaze of publicity by Amazon a couple of years ago, it may become obsolete as phones get smarter. The popularity of touchphones is unquestionable, and they come with large enough screens to be used as e-book readers themselves. Barnes & Noble Inc., one of the U.S.’s largest book retailers, has launched its own free e-book reader application

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"Nearly all children nowadays were horrible. What was worst of all was that by means of such organizations as the Spies they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produced in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of the Party. On the contrary, they adored the Party and everything connected with it... All their ferocity was turned outwards,

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"Because, if one is writing novels today, concentrating on the beauty of the prose is right up there with concentrating on your semi-colons, for wasted effort."Neil Gaiman

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-3271691642393949862009-08-14T20:11:00.003+02:002009-08-14T20:24:56.746+02:00

Here are the nominees (courtesy of Kalahari.net):The Children’s BookA.S. ByattThis vivid, rich and moving saga is played out against the great, rippling tides of the day, taking us from the Kent marshes to Paris and Munich and the trenches of the Somme. Born at the end of the Victorian era, growing up in the golden summers of Edwardian times, a whole generation grew up unaware of the darkness

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Next week's featured author is Tahir Shah, compulsive traveller, adventurer and writer. If you haven't read his books yet, you need to. We're looking forward to reviewing his books next week and hopefully doing an interview with him, schedule permitting.Watch this space...

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The Bicentennial Man is a collection of short stories by this week’s featured author, Isaac Asimov. The title story is about a robot who is given the name Andrew Martin after the family he works for. Andrew discovers he has extraordinary artistic talents and as the decades pass by Andrew begins to fight for what he believes are his rights; to own money and property and to become emancipated from

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Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing. ~ Harper Lee

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-65189095026893233572009-08-14T13:57:00.004+02:002009-08-14T14:03:10.312+02:00

Here are some random and totally useless facts about this week’s featured author, Isaac Asimov:- Asimov died on the 6th April 1992 of heart and kidney failure. When his biography was published ten years later, it was revealed that Asimov had been living with HIV contracted from a blood transfusion performed during his December 1983 triple-bypass surgery.- The famous and celebrated writer, whose

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A book reads the better which is our own, and has been so long known to us, that we know the topography of its blots, and dog's ears, and can trace the dirt in it to having read it at tea with buttered muffins. ~ Charles Lamb, Last Essays of Elia, 1833

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The winner of the once-off Hugo Award for “Best All-Time Series” in 1966, the Foundation series of books have had a profound impact on the world of science fiction. Originally written as a trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation) in the 1950s, Asimov’s publishers pressured him to write a sequel, resulting in Foundation’s Edge being published in 1982, followed soon after

Phénixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10800265934839815452noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7254542587163364269.post-63091674929194826192009-08-13T09:51:00.001+02:002009-08-13T09:53:21.869+02:00

[In response to this question by Bill Moyers: What do you see happening to the idea of dignity to human species if this population growth continues at its present rate?] "It's going to destroy it all. I use what I call my bathroom metaphor. If two people live in an apartment, and there are two bathrooms, then both have what I call freedom of the bathroom, go to the bathroom any time you want, and

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One of the most famous science-fiction authors of all time, Isaac Asimov was a prolific writer, penning hundreds of books in a wide variety of different categories as well as numerous short stories. Asimov was also a professor of biochemistry, writing a great many popular science text books and other works of non-fiction. His most popular science-fiction works included the spectacular Foundation,

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A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy. ~ Edward P. Morgan

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