However, Niven nearly always takes such problems as starting points, as difficulties to be overcome, not as the final morals of his stories. Niven's insistence on scientifically plausible explanations, even within the romance of science fiction and fantasy, may stem from his educational background.
Laurence Van Cott Niven was raised in Beverly Hills, California, by his parents Waldemar Van Cott Niven and Lucy Estelle Washington Doheny Niven. His early education was at the Hawthorne Public School in Beverly Hills and the Carpinteria School for Boys. He entered the California Institute of Technology in September 1956, but left without a degree in February 1958; Niven later attributed his failing grades to his "having discovered a used book store jammed with used science-fiction magazines." In 1962 Niven graduated from Washburn University in Kansas, where he was awarded a B.A. degree in mathematics. His minor was psychology, an interest that would be reflected in his fiction through attention to the psychological impact of scientific advance. After a year (1962-1963) of graduate work in mathematics at the University of California at Los Angeles, Niven decided to become a science-fiction writer.
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