You an get an answer to this by looking through my Guide to Astronomy. In short, I was inspired at the tender age of 10 or so, when my father took me outside one winters night and showed me the stars. i do not know what prompted him to do this, but I vividly recall that until that moment, I had no recollection at all of ever having looked at the stars in the sky! After that moment, my curiosity became insatiable.