The almost century-old biography of the writer, publicist, public figure Daniil Granin fits into many events - the first five-year plans and the Great Patriotic War, the Khrushchev Thaw and Gorbachev’s perestroika, disputes between “physicists” and “lyricists,” the collapse of the Soviet Union and the difficult birth of a new Russia. Daniil Alexandrovich was able to comprehend, feel and embody all this in his works. Whatever he wrote about - about the life and work of scientists, about the tragic years of war and blockade he experienced, or about the distant past - the focus of his attention always remained on moral problems, the moral choice facing every person. He himself made this choice more than once, speaking out for justice and mercy, for preserving the historical appearance of his native Leningrad-Petersburg. The first book about Granin in the “ZhZL” series is being published on the 100th anniversary of the writer and is compiled from his own memories (he called them “whims of memory”), documents and testimonies of contemporaries. [Adapted for AlReader]