He was nominated on four other occasions, in 1989 for "Elementary, Dear Data", in 1991 for "The Best of Both Worlds", in 1992 for "Unification" and in 1994 for "Thine Own Self".
Goiânia accident, an incident of radioactive contamination in central Brazil, a real life accident with some similarities.
The title of the novel is derived from a quote by Polonius in William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act 1, scene 3): "This above all: to thine own self be true,/ And it must follow, as the night the day,/ Thou canst not then be false to any man."