Last night, I bought two books which I was fairly sure I didn't have already ("The Fifth Elephant" and "The Truth", both by Terry Pratchett). I almost bought a book of letters by Isaac Asimov. But when I browsed through it, I discovered that the editor (Asimov's brother) had merely included one or two paragraphs from each letter.

And that's an outrage. When I was growing up, I voraciously devoured all the science fiction I could find by Asimov. I'd love to read a book of his letters, to get a glimpse of who he really was. But to select only a few choice sentences from each letter -- that presents only the part of Isaac Asimov that Stanley wanted the world to see, not the Isaac Asimov who was presenting himself to the recipient of the letter.

I find it particularly ironic, given the fact that in one of the paragraphs I read, Isaac Asimov was explaining that the reason he didn't want to write for television or movies was that his words and ideas would be eviscerated by rewrites and editing outside of his control. Did his brother feel even the slightest twinge of guilt when he included that paragraph? Or did it even occur to him that he was doing exactly what his brother strove so hard to avoid?

Oh well. Around midnight, against my better judgement, I started reading The Fifth Elephant. I finished around a quarter to four. (Curse Terry Pratchett for eschewing the traditional chapter system!) It's days like these that I wish American culture included the "siesta" concept...