On holiday I finished off a collection of essays, called Musings and Meditations, by Robert Silverberg. The essays were mostly written for Asimov's science fiction magazine. The essays cover a wide range of subjects. Not all the subjects were strictly speaking science fiction, but many of the non-fiction elements would help a writer designing stories and plots. He did seem to be very well read. I learned a lot about the history and craft of writing science fiction.
Bob really likes the culture of science fiction. He goes to the Science Fiction convention every year and really cares about awards, such as the Hugo. (I should add he doesn't just care about him wining awards, but rather also people who have written important work.)