When I was 11, my parents took me to Europe.  We traveled by train within Italy and on one train - it might have been from Naples to Rome - we sat in a compartment with a lovely, older British couple.  The man was reading a book and the cover intrigued me.  It was by Penguin Publishers and it was "Day of the Trffids" by John Wyndham.  The man thought I might like it and he gave it to me.  That book opened up a genre of fiction, I had not really experienced.  Science Fiction!  From that day forward, I read everything that was available.  Wyndham, Arthur C. Clark, Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Andre Norton, and Douglas Addams were among the many who's books I devoured.  Even today, on television, I love Dr. Who, Torchwood, Eureka and Warehouse 13 for their Science Fiction elements.