"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row
I felt a bit of a shock when the radio came on and I heard he had died. I dare say he was the most famous scientist in the UK. His health had deteriorated for so long, it was a wonder he lived as long as he did. I was impressed by how he surmounted his speech difficulties with his speech synthesizers, but shuddered at how much time it must have taken to write anything down. I read his book, The Brief History of Time. I understood quite a lot of it. I understood his explanation of Hawkings Radiation, by which black holes gradually radiate away into space. It is mind-boggling to think how much time that would take.
According to Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence once said that Balzac was 'a gigantic dwarf', and in a sense the same is true of Dickens.
Charles Dickens, by George Orwell
His was an extraordinary life, indeed. He reached old age after all., married twice I think, had three children and was an outstanding scientist.
"I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row