It's been a Good Life
"As one of the most gifted and prolific writers of the twentieth century, Isaac Asimov has become a literary legend. In reflecting on his years and his career in the last volume of his autobiographical trilogy, he said modestly, "it's been a good life."".

"Now ten years after her husband's death, Janet Jeppson Asimov has carefully mined the depths of Asimov's most personal thoughts about his life and work. She lovingly combines these with revealing excerpts from his letters to create an intimate portrait of a genius whose tireless passion for writing is evident on every page.".

"Throughout the book, Asimov shares many important experiences: his years as a child prodigy in Depression-era Brooklyn, his early fascination with science-fiction pulp magazines, the thrill of his first published story, the creation of his well-known story "Nightfall," the genesis of the Foundation and robot series, and how he evolved as a creative writer. Significant moments throughout his life are described with Asimov's characteristic wit, sense of humor, and ever-present optimism."--BOOK JACKET.
American Authors, Science fiction, Scientists, Authorship, Biography
Isaac Asimov
Asimov was born sometime between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920 in Petrovichi in Smolensk Oblast, RSFSR (now Russia), the son of a Jewish family of millers.  Although his exact date of birth is uncertain, Asimov himself celebrated it on January 2.  His family emigrated to Brooklyn, New York and opened a candy store when he was three years old.  He taught himself to read at the age of five. He began reading the science fiction pulp magazines that his family's store carried. Around the age of eleven, he began to write his own stories, and by age nineteen, he was selling them to the science fiction magazines. He graduated from Columbia University in 1939. He married Gertrude Blugerman in 1942.  During World War II he worked as a civilian at the Philadelphia Navy Yard's Naval Air Experimental Station.  After the war, he returned to Columbia University and earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry in 1948.  He then joined the faculty of the Boston University School of Medicine until 1958, when he became a full-time writer. His first novel, [Pebble in the Sky](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL46402W), was published in 1950. He and his wife divorced in 1973, and he married Janet O. Jeppson the same year. He was a highly prolific writer, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 9,000 letters and postcards.