He was ahead of his time, for sure. I tended to like his earlier stories, like Farhams Freehold and Farmer In The Sky.
If you want to read a good book in this mode, read Jerry Pournelle's Starswarm.
Heinlein's later books were a abit unreadable to me, but I understand these are what many consider his classics.
Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out. Is this the same Pournelle that has a PC Computing magazine column?