Experience as well as common sense indicated that the most reliable method of avoiding self-extinction was not to equip oneself with the means to accomplish it in the first place.

Banks moved to London and lived in the south of England until 1988 when he returned to Scotland living in Edinburgh and then Fife. In April 2012 Banks became the "Acting Honorary Non-Executive Figurehead President Elect pro tem (trainee)" of the Science Fiction Book Club based in London England. G.

In 2008 The Times named Banks in their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". Banks including the initial of his adopted middle name Menzies. Iain Banks (born on 16 February 1954) is a Scottish writer.