Norton Juster was born on June 2, 1929, in Brooklyn to Samuel and Minnie (Silberman) Juster, who were Romanian immigrants. As a child Norton particularly enjoyed the “Wizard of Oz” book series, but he also dived into the books he found in his parents’ collection. After three years in the Navy’s engineering corps, he set up shop as an architect in New York. “He suddenly asked, ‘What’s the biggest number there is?’” Mr. Juster recalled. I asked him what he thought the biggest number was, and then told him to add one to it.

Source: New York Times March 09, 2021 17:25 UTC