Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters - Isaac Asimov - Hardcover - 1st ed

b>Chapter 4 Typewriters, Word Processors and Computers Isaac loved his typewriters. Only rarely did they let him down. 30 July 1969 Last weekend, my Selectric IBM typewriter went awry just after IBM service shut down for that weekend. It hit me at 5:30 P.M. With a great deal of self-congratulation, I pushed the typewriter aside and got my backup. About a year ago, I had paid $500 to get a second identical typewriter with an identical typeface so that when repairs were needed on one, I could use the second. I went right on, scarcely missing a stroke. Then on Saturday, my backup typewriter went awry, and you should have heard the howl that rent the heavens when that happened. I spent the whole Sunday with two, count them, two, superbly expensive typewriters out of whack. Even on Monday I couldn't get a repairman till 1 P.M. At 10 A.M., the doorbell rang and I ran down, expecting the guy from IBM. It was a reporter from the New York Times come to interview me--and I said sourly, "Oh, it's you." That's no way to speak to a Times reporter. I had lots of explaining to do. Fortunately, he was good-humored about it. The repairman came at 1 P.M., administered oxygen to me and repairs to the machines. 25 October 1979 I'm a loner and a semi-recluse, and the only way I can work is as a one-person organization. Well, two, counting my typewriter. 20 May 1980 My IBM Selectric II typewriter is used every day all day. Counting first draft, second draft, correspondence, I should judge I type about 150,000 words a month. 20 December 1980 You bet I personally use the typewriter. This is coming to you on my new Selectric III (albeit one with an old-fashioned ribbon and no correcting feature, because I can't afford to stop to correct. From me they get strikeovers). 27 October 1989 I have been using a word processor since 1981, but I have never abandoned my typewriter, on which I am writing this letter. But his trusty typewriter needed a ribbon, and Isaac hated to change them even when the print got very light. 21 May 1988 Gee, I need a new typewriter ribbon. When I was a teenager, new ribbons cost 50 cents. And I never had 50 cents. So I had to keep using old ones as long as possible. Now they cost a lot more than 50 cents. But I have lots of money and can easily buy them by the dozen and change them frequently. Old habits die hard. I still have "poor" habits. 23 March 1990 The ribbons on both my typewriter and my printer are growing dim. It is sickening. They don't make ribbons for someone like me who types day and night every day. 7 April 1989 What people should invent is a permanent ribbon that never has to be changed. If we can put a man on the Moon.... For all his reputation as a futurist Isaac was slow in accepting the use of the word processors. He loved his typewriters. 24 June 1980 I use an electric razor and a color television. However, I hang back from word processing. I'm afraid it would cut down my production. It would make revision and editing easier, and I would possibly fall prey to both. At the present moment, editing and revision are so difficult on an ordinary typewriter that I have learned to keep both to an absoluteAsimov, Stanley is the author of 'Yours, Isaac Asimov: A Lifetime of Letters - Isaac Asimov - Hardcover - 1st ed' with ISBN 9780385476225 and ISBN 0385476221.