[Hobbit]

Lots of Heinlein stuff around at the moment: thanks to the publication of the Patterson biography.

One of the things that the Tor site is doing (http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/whats-your-favorite-heinlein-novel-david-brin/) is ask writers what their favourite Heinlein is, some interesting results (so far.)

I'll keep adding as the list gets longer!

Mark


# David Brin: Beyond This Horizon (http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/whats-your-favorite-heinlein-novel-david-brin/)
# David Drake: Starship Soldier (http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/whats-your-favorite-heinlein-novel-david-drake/)
# David Hartwell: Double Star (http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/whats-your-favorite-heinlein-novel-david-hartwell/)
# L.E. Modesitt, Jr.: Starship Troopers (http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/whats-your-favorite-robert-a-heinlein-novel-l-e-modesitt-jr/)
# Rudy Rucker: Starman Jones, Citizen of the Galaxy, and Tunnel in the Sky (http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/whats-your-favorite-heinlein-novel-rudy-rucker/)
# Joan Slonczewski: Have Space Suit—Will Travel (http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/08/16/whats-your-favorite-heinlein-novel-joan-slonczewski/)
# Charles Stross: Glory Road (http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/whats-your-favourite-heinlein-novel-charles-stross/)

LATER ADDS: Jo Walton: Space Cadet (http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/08/annapolis-in-space-robert-a-heinleins-space-cadet)

Michael Swanwick: Have Space Suit, Will Travel (http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/whats-your-favorite-heinlein-novel-michael-swanwick/)
Vernor Vinge: Moon is a Harsh Mistress (http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/whats-your-favorite-robert-a-heinlein-novel-vernor-vinge/)

Starship Troopers/Soldier seems to be winning: and look, how coincidental: not a book after 1959....

We have talked about this before, but thought it would be worth another run: What's your favourite Heinlein and why?

Mark

[nquixote]

Without question, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

[Hobbit]

And why, nquixote?

Must admit I'm surprised that one hasn't been mentioned (yet). Perhaps it will later in the series.

Mark

[psikeyhackr]

I reread one of my favorites: Citizen of the Galaxy

Plot summary? This story opens on a slave auction. A young boy, maybe eight years old is up for auction. No one wants him. He is purchased as a joke by a one-legged beggar. It turns out the beggar is something more. He is an interplanetary spy. He is spying on the slave trade. Things get more interesting from there.

The slave is named Thorby and he lives with and is educated by the old spy for years but must get off planet when the old man is found out. Thus begins his romp across the galaxy.

What's the bottom line? I undoubtedly first read this story more than 30 years ago and I pretty much still remembered it. Some things are obviously dated. A starship's officer using a sliderule in a story set hundreds of years in the future is somewhat funny. But such details are unimportant to the story.

I guess the bottom line of this story is cultural relativism. Thorby encounters 4 different cultures in this story and Heinlein put an anthropologist on the starship that got him off planet the first time. Here Heinlein demonstrates his propensity to use characters to lecture the reader with their dialog in the story. Some people do not like this but it is a good way to get a lot of information across in not too many pages. But some readers do not like this technique. They say if they wanted to learn whatever they would get a textbook. I personally doubt that they get those books they just aren't interested in learning much.

It is said by some that the golden age of science fiction is 12. An idea is new to a kid the first time he or she encounters it. It does not matter if the idea is 500 years old. That idea can change the way that young person looks at the world from then on. That is a good use for science fiction though such enlightening books may not be of much value to adults. Brains get frozen and new ideas don't penetrate. LOL

Alexei Panshin was one of those kids that was influenced by Hienlein in the 50s. He wrote Rite of Passage in the 60s. I would recommend these two books as a matched set for young kids. These two alone beat all of Harry Potter.

But I suppose that even Harry Potter agrees with these books on one point:

Relevant Knowledge is POWER! Without it others may have power over you.

One nice thing about the internet is that it is now possible to see what other people think about the same book.

http://johncwright.livejournal.com/33861.html

Of course I am not providing a link to someone who disagrees with me too much. LOL

I suppose a peculiar analogy can now be made with this book and the present day. It has slavery and interstellar spaceships. We have cheap supercomputers everywhere that Heinlein couldn't have imagined in 1957 but the economy is crashing. This makes sense in our techno-sophisticated world?

Lois McMaster Bujold is the first SF writer to tie Heinlein in number of Hugo awards. CotG is from 1957 and Bujold's first book did not appear until 30 years later. Things have changed. In a way you need to read about 5 of her books to get as broad a perspective as Heinlein puts into one. 250 pages versus 1400 page. That is a big difference. But there were no word processors in 1957. That is a problem with a lot of modern sci-fi, though I am not compaining about Bujold's. BLOATED Sci-fi. LMB has more detailed and interesting characters than Heinlein and her characters don't bludgeon the reader with ideas, but so much stuff is long and without redeeming qualities.

psik


http://www.lunch.com/Reviews/book/Citizen_of_the_Galaxy_by_Robert_Heinlein-1558854.html?cid=121#rid:111683

I also like The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Stranger in a Strange Land but each for somewhat different reasons.

psik

[Randy M.]

The short stories.

Heinlein, like most of his generation of s.f. writers, was trained early in the short story form and worked best there and with the novella. When they tried to write at novel lengths they mostly ended up with exercises in plot, the characters thin and the settings cardboard, with none of the texture that mainstream writers, or even some mystery/crime writers of the time achieved.

But those drawbacks become strengths in the kind of short stories they wrote, and maybe especially so for Heinlein. He could concentrate on the conceit behind the story, maintain the tone he developed early on of the positive, competent man, and get on with the action. "They," "The Green Hills of Earth," "If This Goes On -- " and many, many others are key to understanding the development of s.f. in America and are still quite enjoyable reading.


Randy M.

[nquixote]

And why, nquixote?

Well, I like the characters, which is always the most important thing for me. Mike is my favorite; I really like the idea that AI motivation will be more important than AI capability in determining the role of AIs in society.

I like the constant tension of the "let's start a revolution" plot...chronicles of underground revolutionary movements are always one of my favorite plots.

I like a lot of the real-science stuff, like the accurate description of orbits, etc. I've always been a fan of real science in sci-fi.

And I like the political message...it's so much more nuanced than most of Heinlein's polemical tracts. The libertarian colonists gradually realize the necessity of government, much like the U.S. did in its infancy...they try to strike the balance that gives them the most liberty in the long run, rather than just going for short-run minarchism. It's smart.

[gthnk]

My favourite is Starship Troopers because of the philosophy it contains about rights, freedoms and civic responsibility.

I also found much of what Heinlein says to be prophetic and profound, in that our kids today see value in very little precisely because most of the things they have were given freely to them.

Second would be Stranger In a Strange Land, mostly because it examines our morals and challenges the reader not to think in terms of starkly defined "right" and "wrong" but in shades of reason, asking a simple "why" instead.

[psikeyhackr]

We prefer direct quotes rather than links, psik. See reviews from others as examples.

I didn't quote it since it was something I wrote.

psik

[Hobbit]

I didn't quote it since it was something I wrote.

OK. But it's from another place/conversation/website... however, the point is, 'look how easy it is to read and join into the conversation now that it's all in one thread...' which is why we prefer to do it. Whether it's a quote or not, I was trying to point out that it's what other reviewers do here, that way we can follow the discussion without having links all over the place.

I'm going to go back to Randy's point. You know,

The short stories.

My favourite, if I had to choose, would be The Past through Tomorrow, which is a collection of his short stories.

I agree with what Randy's said, up to a point: by writing in the short story medium, and for a pay-per-word market, Heinlein's short stories show many of his skills and perhaps fewer of his less likeable aspects.

I still feel a little uneasy with that though, in that such a choice doesn't necessarily show Heinlein off as a writer, where he's given the space to develop ideas and concepts.

So, as much as I agree with Randy, I must admit I'm trying to think novel here, perhaps.

And I really must read Moon is a Harsh Mistress again soon!
Mark

[Gizmo]

1. Time Enough For Love for mine. Yes, I know others will say the writing is self-indulgent and clunky at times, and I don't disagree, but it really doesn't bother me. I'm a Heinlein fan and I like the rants, the speeches, the weirdness. I find it supremely interesting. Most of all, it makes you think at times. Also, it's just endlessy quotable.

A very close 2. The Door Into Summer: An under-appreciated, old school Heinlein adventure. Clever, witty and touching. Sometimes it's nice to have a break from his other more heavy stuff, and this is the best of his...'non-heavy' stuff for mine.