[PJ-Comix]

Never read him - though I'll keep my eyes open for something of his now - but I doubt he could possibly be as good as the greatest science fiction writer of all time, Robert A. Heinlein.

Kilgore Trout has a much greater depth than Robert Henlein.

[JenB]

Really? More depth than Heinlein? Some of the best 'messages' I've ever encounted in a book I found in Heinlein. Ideas like doing your best because you should, even if other people are goofing off; putting the needs of others ahead of yourself; learning for its own sake; and that there are times when it's much better to be a dead hero than a live louse. Not to mention basic distances between planets, the name of Pluto's discoverer, why airplanes can't just fall on your head, and the irregular orbit of Pluto. Mind, I'd probably have learned these at some point anyway, but Heinlein's works exposed me to these ideas at the age of ten.

Oh, and his works interested me so much, I even went out, found an old slide rule, and learned how to use it for basic arithmatic. That's good writing for you.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

Never read him - though I'll keep my eyes open for something of his now - but I doubt he could possibly be as good as the greatest science fiction writer of all time, Robert A. Heinlein.

Kilgore Trout has a much greater depth than Robert Henlein.

Depends upon what you want. KT (aka K. Vonnegut) is great at social satire. His characters are wild and unusual. RH is great at plotting and simply telling a story. His characters are well drawn, but he only has about 3-4 types of characters that he re-uses from book to book. RH has some political axes he likes to grind, but I often agree with him, so I don't mind. I much prefer RH to KT (or KV). I have read all of RH's novels and many of his short stories. I've read Venus on the half Shell, Slaughterhouse 5, and one or two others by KV.