Those old books and short stories ruined my life. I grew up thinking that the reason most of the people in my life were small minded bigots was the rural Texas area we had moved to when I was 9. I read voraciously back then. My grandma would send me boxes full of used books. I read everything indiscriminately. I devoured collections of science fiction short stories from the 20s through to the 60s. And lots of novels. It’s how I first read Asimov, Bradbury, Heinlein, Clarke, Doyle, Clavell, and so many others. I was a simple boy without a lot of life experience. Probably Asperger also. So I believed that what I read was an accurate depiction of how educated, cosmopolitan, adults behaved. I was wrong and gullible. My late middle-aged self is still disappointed with reality.