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I never did read any of the books by which he was best known (other than ST): The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Number of the Beast, Stranger in a Strange Land, etc. Partly because my liking of SciFi is decidedly mixed and partly because Job stopped my reading of him, but mostly because the blurbs for the books just didn't appeal to me. There is no denying that RAH had a big impact on SF, but most of his stuff just wasn't for me.

Most of his stuff just plain sucked. People liked his juvenile novels because they were "clean" as opposed to the avant-garde work of Philip Jose Farmer and the New Wave.

RAH had the most annoying habit of tediously explaining just how smart/educated/superior his characters were just before he made them do something particularly stupid. Whenever I would hit a point like that the book went into the fireplace.

Whenever I would hit a point like that the book went into the fireplace.

At least his books had the added benefit of warming the house, eh?

Tuor