works of Robert Heinlein

[confed sailor]

Who else has read the works of Robert Heinlein?

Between the messages in "Starship Troopers" and the Pro-Gun, Pro-2nd Amend. slant of every other book and short story he has written; Heinlein has put into words our philosophy as gun owners. Stories of armed colonists on Mars resisting earth's domination, this man truely stood for freedom.

I personally feel that his works are some of the finest Pro-freedom literature ever published.

(lets just not mention his attitude on sex)

 

[tc300mag1]

Ive read and listened to all of his books i can books on tape are great when you drive 90% of your day

 

[bfieldburt]

"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein

I won't say anymore than that. I don't want to add to my likely already large F.B.I. file (ha ha...just a joke G-men...keep up the good work).

 

[Docwithglock]

What FBI file? We are just exercising our freedom of speech. The government would never keep files of law abiding citizens... Oh... I forgot about the USA (un)Patriot Act... Heilein WHO?

 

[Sean Smith]

Heinlein can be a fun read. He also grew up to be a horny old dog.

 

[DeputyVaughn]

I've been told my signature line is a Heinlein quote but I haven't proved it.

Scott

 

[wingnutx]

tanstaafl!

 

[Brian Williams]

I have read msot if not all of RAH's work and find that many of his stuff at the end was just one long story. He lost his creative edge after "Friday". I thought "Number of the Beast shoud have left out LL and others. You know some RAH if you know where part of my Sig line comes from.

 

[Jim March]

The single most pro-gun piece of Science Fiction ever wasn't by Heinlein. It was by AE Van Vogt: "The Weapons Shop of Isher" and it's follow-ups contemporary with Heinlein's most pro-freedom pieces in the '50s.

H. Beam Piper also deserves mention for directly pro-gun SF of that period.

There was a LOT of Libertarian-direction thought among the "Golden Age" SF writers taught by John W. Campbell, editor of Astounding SF. Asimov's biography goes into extensive detail on how Campbell molded this whole crew...today, Asimov and Heinlein are his best-known students.

And believe me, "students" is the proper term. Campbell didn't just reject bad stories and buy good ones - he suggested material, and did massive multi-page critiques that Asimov for one credited for much of his writing ability.

More for those who've never heard of Campbell:

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue278/cool.html

Without him, there'd be no serious SF movement at all, and what did exist wouldn't have that Libertarian flavor.

NOTE: the SF of the 1930s/40s/50s on FILM was almost always total crud completely cut off from the printed work flowering centered on Campbell. Damned if I know why Hollywood didn't tap into all that Asimov/Heinlein/Piper/Van Vogt and just SCADS of others - it's beyond all understanding. (Ehh...good thing they skipped L. Ron Hubbard until John Travolta did that turd of a movie! "ElRon was the one true screwball in the bunch.)

 

[Art Eatman]

A friend of mine just loaned me "For Us The Living", Heinlein's first-ever "novel" from 1939. It's less a novel that a compendium of the ideas he explored throughout his writing career--including his curiosity about the variations of human sexuality. If there is anything that has long been irrational about ol' homo sap, it's his notions about the world's oldest activity. I'm glad that somebody speculated about the "what ifs" involved...

Back before "Astounding" became "Analog", John Campbell's editorials were the first things I read. The ideas he brought up truly provided much food for thought. Even his short stories were quite interesting, although he was a much better editor than writer.

I think almost all of the Golden Age writers regarded homo sap as the top predator, and thought that this means we should have a very high level of responsibility for the consequences of our decisions and actions. To a great extent, this concept of personal responsibility is the foundation of what's called Libertarianism.

, Art

 

[Telperion]

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is actually going to be made into a movie, screenplay by Tim Minear. I can only hope he adapts it so it provokes some critical thinking instead of turning it into some kind of juvenile action movie (coughStarshipTrooperscough).

 

[Evil_Ed]

You know some RAH if you know where part of my Sig line comes from... "Watch out for the Stobor."

Perfesser,
That would be from "Tunnel in the Sky" a great book about surviving in a bad situation! One of my favorites from Heinlein's "juvenile" oriented books.

 

[zastros]

And while the films sucked rocks creatively during those years, Radio was all over it in it's "Golden Age". Shows like 'Dimension X' and 'X-1' were full of amazing ideas for the times. Still fun to listen to and every so often you'll hear a dramatization of one of your favorites.

zastros

 

[HunterGatherer]

works of Robert Heinlein

Damned if I know why Hollywood didn't tap into all that Asimov/Heinlein/Piper/Van Vogt and just SCADS of others - it's beyond all understanding.

It's perfectly understandable. Hollywood then (as now) was filled with people who are, shall we say... enamored with communism.

Campbell, Heinlein, Van Vogt, et al. were using science fiction to explore the possibilities of human kind. They thought and wrote about the pioneering spirit that it will take for humans to successfully travel to, and colonize other planets. They also understood that the key to success in that endeavor will require determined individuals. Nothing makes a communist squirm more than the idea of individual human achievement. None of those rats were going to make a movie about that.

The good news is that the books endure, and quite frankly they have a deeper impact on a (thinking) person's mind than a movie ever could.

Which is not to say that there haven't been reasonably good attempts to make SciFi movies that delve into what it means to be human, and what it means to be free. "Blade Runner" the film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's "Do Android's Dream Of Electric Sheep?" is an excellent example of this.

 

[Jim March]

Sure, by the 1970s/80s we were starting to see some good SF flicks. They still pop up now and again: I thought Minority Report was quite good and for that matter, "Firefly" *rocked* (until they cancelled it) .

The question is, how did the SAME era produce Asimov's "Nightfall" on paper and Buck Rogers serials/giant radioactive ants'n'crap on film? Follow?

Ya, the "commie factor" might have something to do with it but...I mean, DAMN. It's not like there weren't good movies being made in that era...look at "Casablanca" or other such. It's as if somebody way up in Hollywood made a decision like "anything with a spaceship in it has got to suck wind" "rolleyes".

 

[Sean Smith]

Well, there was always "The Twilight Zone" from 1959-1965. It had a fair amont of outright sci-fi, and often had a brain to boot.

"How to Serve Man."

 

[ceetee]

Heinlein went through phases, just as I have, and probably most of us all have. Most of his early work (Sixth Column, Space Cadet, Starman Jones, etc) was highly into patriotism, and American values. It taught the values of a disciplined lifestyle, and/or military education. If his "juvenile" works were published today, I dare say most educators would ban them from their school libraries.

There was also a lot of early fiction regarding exploration, expanding your horizons, and enriching the knowledge base of the future race. Look at "The door Into Summer", and The Man Who Sold The Moon" (amongst many) as good examples.

Later on, it seems he started exploring his own spiritual side delving into themes such as open sexuality (Stranger in a Strange Land) and transexuality (I Will Fear No Evil). I've noticed that a lot of this tries to explore religious theories (Job, a Comedy of Errors, and The Unpleasant Proffession of Jonathan Hoag), and seems to actually be advocating atheism (Orphans in the Sky).

Later on, it seems like he starts to miss his youth, and regret things he may have missed out on (Time Enough for Love). His main character (Lazarus Long) is an unlikable old coot, who also (somehow) manages to get any woman he wants to fall for him. His whole "future history" series is about overcoming death, traveling beyond time, and becoming eternal.

He tries to (once and for all) answer the great question of "Why are we here?" The answer he comes up with the most is "Because we are." In the last work he published before his death (To Sail Beyond The Sunset) He seems to answer that question by saying "It doesn't matter WHY we're here, what matters is what we do while we're here.

And that, my friend, will be different for all of us.

And yes, I pretty much have read all of Heinlein's books...

 

[MrAcheson]

There are lots of good semi-libertarian sci-fi that was out back then. A lot of it had to do with writers like Heinlien. Other parts of it had to do with the culture back then. Star Trek was originally conceived as "Wagon Train to the Stars" remember. A lot of sci-fi was like that, the pioneer spirit of star travel was paralleled to america's westward expansion.

There's a lot of liberal thought in sci-fi as well though. Its just that none of us would consider those stories to be very good.

 

[Dave R]

I believe ALL of Heinleins works had a cental theme of self-reliance, personal responsibility and anti-collectivism.

Works for me.