Posted on 07/26/2007 9:43:31 PM PDT by B-Chan
...As Arthur C. Clarke put it: "Almost every good scientist I know has read science fiction." And the greatest writer who produced them was Robert Anson Heinlein, born in Butler, Mo., 100 years ago this month.
The list of technologies, concepts and events that he anticipated in his fiction is long and varied...
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Thanks, Huntsville, B-Chan. Perhaps “Revolt” was the one about the religious dictatorship in America.
Yep “Revolt in 2100”
Be wary of strong drink.
It can make you shoot at tax collectors, and miss.
Maybe Jesus was right when he said the meek shall inherit the earth -
but they inherit very small plots, about two meters by one meter.
A monarch’s neck should always have a noose around it -
it keeps him upright.
You can have peace.
Or you can have freedom.
Don’t ever count on having both at once.
How is a sincere criminal, trying hard, going to get ahead in his profession if his victim fails to cooperate?
Almost all crime depends on the cooperation of the victim. If the victim refuses his assigned role, the criminal is placed at a disadvantage,
one so severe that it usually takes an understanding and compassionate judge to set right.
LAZARUS LONG
I can't imagine growing up without reading these.
Have Spacesuit Will Travel -BUMP!
“To the ever lasting glory of the infantry!”
Bump
All the people who say, "I love his juveniles but hate the later stuff," are not exactly covering themselves with glory. The juveniles are very good, straightforward, escapist fiction. The later works (Starship Troopers from on) are where Heinlein really challenges the reader with deeper, interpretive stories and complex themes. Even the books written during his illness, though less carefully edited, offer far more subtlety and depth than the juveniles.
The juveniles are generally "safe" for the religious reader - nothing there to challenge orthodoxy - thus their overweighting in the general esteem of Free Republic readers.
His kid books rock, however.
Other great writers of juvenile science fiction include G. Harry Stine (aka "Lee Correy") and the incomparable H. Beam Piper. Read Piper's Space Viking and know the meaning of good science fiction.
Glory Road was a bit of fun, nothing more. But it is fun that I revisit every few years.
I agree with the reader who labeled the last thick tomes his “dirty old man” phase.
He was either having old men have promiscuous sex with young cute sex kittens or they were taking showers. Too bad they weren’t cold showers.
I wasn’t particularly religious during the years I was a disappointed reader of these novels; but I was a pretty young thing who had been hit on too many times by older male employers and coworkers (one of whom physically assaulted me after I slapped him for grabbing my breast in the workplace) and I thought Heinlein was just writing out his wet dreams, not well crafted novels.
I like some of his epitaphs and minor characters, Noisy somebody or other (Rawlings, Rhysling?) the blind space bard in The Green Hills of Earth. Sgt. Somebody, Imperial Space Marines, ‘He Ate What Was Set Before Him’, RIP.
There was a bit of Kipling and some Hemingway in RAH’s work w/out a doubt.
In 1953 it was rewriten and extended into Revolt in 2100
Yes several of his shorter stories were fleshed out into full novels.
Read your About Page and saw that, despite (or because of) disability and a challenged child you are a very blessed man. Semper Fi!
Hey thanks for the link, cool site.
Whaddaya mean WAS bub?
AdamSelene235 has not been on this thread yet. You there Mike?
Of course, my only higg friend.
Among his various misadventures was an incident when he decided that his crew needed gunnery practice and had them start shooting at a nearby island. Unfortunately for his career, the island was not only inhabited, but it belonged to Mexico.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.