My first academic interest came from my interest in growing trees. I grew up on a farm in the country, but it wasn't that the got my interest. I loved TV more than farm work, but one day I watched a gardening show, the sort of thing that my middle-aged aunts might enjoy. The show was about Japanese bonsai, growing trees in miniature. This fascinated me, and I wanted to try it. Living on a farm, in a beautiful rural setting, there was no shortage of trees. For some reason I don't remember, I had always liked fig trees, so I found a small one, potted it, and began my exploration of bonsai. I seen had a small collection of small trees on the supports for one of the water tanks that held the rain water we drank. I spend hours tending them, twisting them into the shapes I wanted with bits of copper wire from my dad's workshop. This interest also led me to start reading about botany, which was the start of my interest in science, although the botanical focus didn't last long.
At the same time, I had discovered my parents' excellent encyclopaedia, which introduced me to other sciences, but also to art, especially the classical art, literature and customs of Western civilization (very little on Asia, except the Ancient Near East). In turn, this prompted me to start looking at more books, and it coincided with starting high school at age 12.
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