Yesterday Kurt Vonnegut, the mastermind author behind classics such as Cat’s Cradle, Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse Five, died. He was 84.

Mr. Vonnegut was truly one of a kind, steeped in original thought and inspired moral guidance, both of which he delivered in his own dark and laugh out loud funny kind of way. I’ll never forget reading Cat’s Cradle (my personal favourite) one summer in which I read about 30 books. It stands tall among many great works, with indelible characters and curious concepts (anyone else here remember Ice Nine?)

In an editorial over at the New York Times Dinitia Smith writes how Mr. Vonnegut’s “dark comic talent and urgent moral vision…caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation”. I’ll do one better and say that’s an understatement. His writing has already informed the imagination of many generations, and will no doubt continue to inform many more over the decades to come.

Here’s an interview I saw live a few months back with John Stewart on the Daily Show. It’s Windows Media player formatted (sorry about that), but if you want a taste of a legend, check it out.