re: What is your favorite sci-fi author?

I love Asimov. I don't want to come across as being too critical. I've probably read more by him than anyone else.

My biggest critique of him is that his stories tend to be very formulaic. Most of his stories tend to follow the format of your standard mystery. He's much more of an ideas guy than he is an innovative storyteller. He had very interesting ideas about the possible ways that humanity could develop, and how technology and environment could shape this development and culture. The scene is much more important than the stories for Asimov.

Also, yes, accurate and plausible science was very important to him. He was a scientist himself after all. One thing that I found interesting is that I have somewhat later prints (still decades old at this point) of some of his early novels where he actually wrote apologies in the forwards of the books for science that he thought was plausible at the time of original writing, but was later proven to be unlikely or just flat out wrong. He would say something to the effect of hoping that they could still be enjoyed for what they are.

One that I specifically remember was that the danger of radiation was far worse than he earlier thought. Another was that he had a planet with a high oxygen content atmosphere with little vegetation, and apparently it was later thought that atmospheric oxygen was unlikely to develop without plant life.