Robert Heinlein

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Any fans of Robert Heinlein? Here are some books I've read:
Starship Troopers (HATE the movies)
Red Planet
I Will Fear No Evil
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Puppet Masters

When I was 15, a woman in her 20s gave me a paperback copy of Stranger in a Strange Land and told me to read it. I ended up reading all his books.

I keep remembering a character who said when a place requires you to have an ID, it is time to move on.

One of my favorite stories was about Robert Heinlein -- "The Return of William Proxmire", by Larry Niven.

The short story was first published in 1989 in the anthology "What Might Have Been? Volume 1: Alternate Empires", edited by Gregory Benford.  The short story was reprinted in Niven's collection "N-Space", as well as the Robert A. Heinlein retrospective "Requiem".

I've read a few. The only ones I can remember at the moment are Stranger in a strangeland and Friday. They were good, but I didn't like the societies or worlds in either of them. But if I remember correctly, that was his point, it was social commentary. I did enjoy the read.

I saw a comparison, in "Stranger in a Strange Land", with an autistic living in an NT society.

I had a major Heinlein phase as a teenager- it's probably about time I got back into him. "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" were my favourites, along with "The Number of the Beast" (though the ending of that one is a bit weak). I found him a very thought-provoking writer, even when I ended up not agreeing with him. So I can thank Heinlein for shaking up my ideas at a critical age.

Two of my faves are "Job" and "The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag".

What made me cringe-y in reading much of Heinlein was his trope of a single man having a breeding harem all of whom were pregnant or with small babies and how wonderful that was and how everyone got along together and it was all so beautiful. This seemed like pornographic fantasy. Even at 15 this was a little much. Now that would be terribly frowned upon.

Hm. That's possibly why I went off him a bit in my '20s... He seemd to do this a lot in his last few books, where the plot would just be getting going when they'd meet Lazarus Long and His Happy Incestuous Family and all bonk happily ever after. IRRC "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" has a group marriage with multiple husbands, which is a bit more even- handed!

I love the way you expressed that. (Bolded line.)

Asimov and Le Guin did a better job of imagining alternative reproductive habits.

But, now that I think about it, life here on earth has the kernel of all those ideas too. One of the reasons I love biology.

I have only read Starship Troopers, because people said it was very different to the movie. It was! It was an interesting piece of sci-fi but I thought it was kind of dull as a piece of fiction. The characters were all pretty blah, and I can't remember much drama or emotion in the book. There was some sort of danger of Rico getting surrounded or whatever in the attack on the homeworld (can't remember it in much detail) but you already knew that the heroes would prevail and the tension evaporated.

↑ A movie is rarely as good as or better than the book upon which the movie is based.

Definitely. The best adaptation I've ever seen is Shawshank Redemption.

The tales of Lazarus Long ...... although I do not remember a lot of which stories were with which titles ,
Respected the ideas he put forth . Concepts of right and wrong were well entrenched and good reading for a formative younger person growing up , and some very mind expanding concepts .

aside from Starship Troopers, the main thing that caught my attention about the man was this thing he wrote-

"A Man should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

i wondered if he himself could have done all that.