"Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed."
Heh.
I want to be Lazarus' little sister when I grow up :) I have the red hair, now all I have to do is live forever....
Thanks for posting this. I discovered Heinlein at 12 years old, and he and his books had a greater impact on me than anything else. I still stop every now and then and think "he's dead", and sorrow washes over me.
My favorite- "A committee is an organism with at least six legs and no brain"
I used to think Heinlein was one of our very best sf authors, but I kept running into books that weren't all that great, and sometimes as a whole not even that good, but I excused them. Finally reading "Job: A Comedy of Justice" recently broke this camel's back.
I still enjoy "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and "The Man Who Sold the Moon", and some of his short stories, and maybe a few others but the large collection of 'ugh' is now firmly present in my mind.
Its interesting. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and Asimov were the tops when I was growing up, but frankly while each had some moments (well maybe not Clarke) their are a lot better writers out there.
Tadeusz, it's simple: just avoid anything written after Stranger In A Strange Land. That should do ya.
I believe the primary exception to that is Farnham's Freehold. I'd love to see the reaction if a major author published something like that today. Heh...
Yeah, rather than saying to avoid "anything" after Stranger In A Strange Land, I'd say that it's a milepost past which one should be leery.
The problem in his case is that he grew ill in the early 1970s, never fully recovering. He also grew popular enough and respected enough that he learned that he could get onto the New York Times bestseller list without putting as much care into his work as he did in his earlier novels. Thus, he began to get a bit more sloppy, a bit more self-indulgent, and a bit more repetitive. Some of his work during that last quarter-century or so of his life was excellent, some not so excellent at all.
Although I liked Job: A Comedy of Justice, this was because it was such an unusual departure for Heinlein. It should almost be considered apart from anything he wrote during his last 10-15 years.
Most of his very best work was written prior to 1970, and when you look at that body of work, some of it is among the best that's ever been written in the genre, and some of it quite simply transcends the genre.
He is also the most quotable SF author of all time. I have no doubt whatsoever that people will be reading, discussing, and arguing over Heinlein 100 years from now.
"Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed."
Heh.
I want to be Lazarus' little sister when I grow up :) I have the red hair, now all I have to do is live forever....
Thanks for posting this. I discovered Heinlein at 12 years old, and he and his books had a greater impact on me than anything else. I still stop every now and then and think "he's dead", and sorrow washes over me.
My favorite- "A committee is an organism with at least six legs and no brain"
I used to think Heinlein was one of our very best sf authors, but I kept running into books that weren't all that great, and sometimes as a whole not even that good, but I excused them. Finally reading "Job: A Comedy of Justice" recently broke this camel's back.
I still enjoy "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and "The Man Who Sold the Moon", and some of his short stories, and maybe a few others but the large collection of 'ugh' is now firmly present in my mind.
Its interesting. Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and Asimov were the tops when I was growing up, but frankly while each had some moments (well maybe not Clarke) their are a lot better writers out there.
Tadeusz
Tadeusz, it's simple: just avoid anything written after Stranger In A Strange Land. That should do ya.
I believe the primary exception to that is Farnham's Freehold. I'd love to see the reaction if a major author published something like that today. Heh...
...just avoid anything written after Stranger In A Strange Land.
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is the best thing he ever did, and it came after Stranger.
Yeah, rather than saying to avoid "anything" after Stranger In A Strange Land, I'd say that it's a milepost past which one should be leery.
The problem in his case is that he grew ill in the early 1970s, never fully recovering. He also grew popular enough and respected enough that he learned that he could get onto the New York Times bestseller list without putting as much care into his work as he did in his earlier novels. Thus, he began to get a bit more sloppy, a bit more self-indulgent, and a bit more repetitive. Some of his work during that last quarter-century or so of his life was excellent, some not so excellent at all.
Although I liked Job: A Comedy of Justice, this was because it was such an unusual departure for Heinlein. It should almost be considered apart from anything he wrote during his last 10-15 years.
Most of his very best work was written prior to 1970, and when you look at that body of work, some of it is among the best that's ever been written in the genre, and some of it quite simply transcends the genre.
He is also the most quotable SF author of all time. I have no doubt whatsoever that people will be reading, discussing, and arguing over Heinlein 100 years from now.
"We don't give up. We give 'em jingle-jangle, cobber." -- Mycroft Holmes IV, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.
Words to blog by.