Asimov vs Roddenberry

Isaac Asimov was a real character. I started my publishing career at Doubleday, which was just one of his publishers (he was ridiculously prolific, producing both fiction and nonfiction), and he was a regular visitor to the offices. Maybe too regular a visitor. He had a Harpo Marx tendency to almost literally chase the young female assistants around the office, for one thing, a practice that the young female assistants did not find endearing. On the other hand, he was Isaac Asimov. Maybe this was what was meant by poetic license.

What I remember most about Asimov personally was a talk he once gave about publishing. I forget the occasion, but he made a most interesting point. This is the gist of it: "Only ten percent of the people in this country read books," he said. He went on. "Fifty years ago, only ten percent of the people in this country read books. Fifty years for now, no doubt, only ten percent of the people in this country will read books. Reading is an elite activity, and a minority activity." Publishing, therefore, was similarly elite and similarly small. He didn't mean it as a pat on the back for our specialness, but a reality check. That was life, and he wasn't suggesting that we change it, but that we live with it.

Thirty some odd years later, I think he was right.

Anyhow, I love the exchange of notes between him and Gene Roddenberry. Mostly we have the Roddenberry side of it, but that's enough. Asimov had taken Star Trek to task for scientific inaccuracy. Roddenberry's response is enlightening, and apparently sparked what would become a friendship between the two. You can follow it at Letters of Note.
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