16 August 2010

Isaac Asimov's opinion of libraries and library funding

I received the fundamentals of my education in school, but that was not enough. My real education, the superstructure, the details, the true architecture, I got out of the public library. For an impoverished child whose family could not afford to buy books, the library was the open door to wonder and achievement, and I can never be sufficiently grateful that I had the wit to charge through that door and make the most of it. Now, when I read constantly about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that the door is closing and that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.       (Isaac Asimov)
It's interesting that Ray Bradbury had a similar experience and has expressed virtually the same opinion.   Asimov quote via A Writer's Ruminations.

2 comments:

  1. I also found my education at the public library. And that is where I discovered Asimov and Bradbury, and fell in love with science fiction.

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  2. My brother. sister, and I carried 10 books apiece home on a weekly basis as children growing up in Detroit. English was not our first language, but all of us excelled in school due to the availability of the public library.
    Jurate Kutkus Burns

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