When I was a small child, 8 or 10 years old, I used to go over to my grandfathers house every Saturday afternoon to listen to his stories. I don't remember any of them but he always appeared to be a wise old man who had seen the world and knew what was up. He loved to write. He loved writers and it was drilled into us from this early age that writing was the highest vocation anyone could aspire to.

When I told him I thought I wanted to become a scientist he pronounced with a wag of his finger, "Remember, if all else fails you can always write a book." He wrote something like 20 books. I've written 5.