Isaac Asimov was born between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920, in a region of the world (Petrovichi in the former U.S.S.R) where two calendars were in use concurrently, neither of which matches the calendar commonly used in the West; not knowing his "true" birthday, he chose to celebrate it on January 2. His parents were Judah Asimov, then head of a food co-operative, and Anna Rachel Asimov. The Asimovs moved to Brooklyn in 1923, and Judah Asimov opened his first candy store three years later. Isaac Asimov would avidly read the magazines for sale in the store, making sure that they still looked new enough to sell after he finished with them. Asimov already possessed the omnivorous interest in knowledge of every kind that was to be such a prominent feature of all his adult writings. Asimov became a naturalized United States citizen in 1928.

He...