Which Heinlein book as a first?

[Ron]

I picked up "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" today. They didn't have "Tunnel In The Sky" and I decided to wait and pick up Troopers later.

Can't wait to Grok my new book.

[MechAg94]

I have been meaning to get a copy of Starship Troopers, but it is expensive or hard to find most places I look.

[Sindawe]

You tried Amazon MechAge94?  While not the $2.50 paperback of my youth, its still not expensive.

[Manedwolf]

As an interesting bit for some, Firefly's co-producer Tim Minear wants to do The Moon is a Harsh Mistress as a movie, but...and this made me cheer. He will only do it if Hollywood can't touch the script, because, HE said, it was intended to be a libertarian work, and he doesn't want it remade into a "liberal screed". 

Considering that Firefly was ALL about "leave me alone" libertarianism, I think he'd do it right!

[Balog]

My first experience with him was Citizen of the Galaxy which I recall very fondly. Starship Troopers is another classic, altho if you're like me you'll get angry at the movie for sucking so bad and disgracing the book. Farnam's Freehold was good but the incestousness was a bit distasteful. I'm all for practical libertarianism, but if you daughter is that willing to jump you something seems a little off.

[Manedwolf]

He demonstrated a rather gross (to me) obsession with incestuous relations in his later works, yes. Particularly since its repetition did not seem to be for shock value, as would be a valid literary device, but as a proponent argument.

I don't care for those.

[AJ Dual]

AJ: regarding the incestousness of Lazarus Long. I have to admit that I find Heinlein's arguements (within the storys) to be fairly convincing: so long as there's absolutely no possible genetic repercussions (and assuming functional, consenting adults), what IS the basis of the stigma attached to incest?

 Not to say I'd be willing to sleep with a family member, it's just a bit of a sociological question...

I'm on the same page. It didn't bother me. I more took it as a device to try and convey just how radicaly different life and morality would/could be thousands of years in the future, or for someone who'd lived that entire time. Then set that as the ultimate logical extension of Heinlien's reductionisim of culture and taboo (the ones he found to be "useful" at any rate) to what protected "pregnant women and children". i.e., the furtherance of humanity in it's most basic terms.

In simple terms, if humanity's oldest man travels back in time (boffs his "identical" teenaged twin sisters/daughters cloned from his body as a send-off) meets his mom during WWI, and sees her as a young adult, with adult eyes of his own for the first time, then does her too, well, no kids or pregnant women were harmed, so no foul, in the author's reductionist morality... I guess.

If there's any "advocacy" of "keeping it within the family" beyond stretching the envelope for it's own sake, I really didn't want to think about it.

However, I'd hate for that to be someone's first taste of Heinlien, and write him off permanantly either... 

 

[wingnutx]

I have been meaning to get a copy of Starship Troopers, but it is expensive or hard to find most places I look.

You can get it on Amazon.com for under $5 used.

I bought my last copy at a used book store for 2 or 3 bucks.

[Balog]

I'm not arguing the that the incest wasn't presented to make some kind of point. i'm just saying I don't enjoy reading about it.

[Perd Hapley]

I have been meaning to get a copy of Starship Troopers, but it is expensive or hard to find most places I look.

Look for some used book stores.  Any major city should have enough of those to yield a few inexpensive copies.  But if you're way out in the boonies, the internet will be a better option. 

[Fly320s]

I have been meaning to get a copy of Starship Troopers, but it is expensive or hard to find most places I look.

I grabbed a copy at Barnes & Noble yesterday.  $14, IIRC.

I've read only about 20 pages, but I am hooked.

[Perd Hapley]

I was at a used-book store today, and just happened to pick up my first Heinlein - Farnham's Freehold.  Actually, I read Tunnel In the Sky when in high school, but I didn't know back then that I was supposed to revere him as a libertarian sage.  I just finished with The Stranger by Camus, so I was looking for some fiction that wouldn't be a total waste of time.   

[Dixie_Amazon]

I like most of his books but am particularly fond of Glory Road.

[meinbruder]

The Past through Tomorrow makes a good starting point for most of his work as it lays the foundation for the future history series he began to build.   

Im surprised no one has mentioned For Us The Living; it was his first novel and went unpublished until well after his death.  So many concepts were included that none of the publishers of the time thought it would sell.  He took the various ideas and turned them into the basis of the individual stories, which shaped the rest of his literary career. 

I read the entire juvenile series as a kid, along with all the other authors of the time.  The real eye opener was Time Enough for Love and I was hooked on his adult storyline.  I then began to collect the adult novels.  Puppet Masters is the first of them but The Moon is a Harsh Mistress might be a better starting point.

There seems to be more than a few RAH fans on the board.  I think most of you will greatly enjoy Grumbles From the Grave, his wife edited it together from letters and memoirs; it really gives a clear insight to his works.
}:)> 

[JesseL]

I got my wife hooked on Heinlein with The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag and then Citizen of the Galaxy.

[Rocketman56]

My vote would be for either The Moon is a Harsh Mistress or Starship Troopers.

Both shorter reads than the TIME series, where all the books should be read in order.. It helps..

And if you've seen the movie, read the book carefully...  The divergence was almost sickening in spots..
(Hollywood screen writers, sheesh)..

Stranger in a Strange Land is a great book, particularly the unabridged version, but it's a heavy read, too..  (Think Tolstoy's War and Peace or Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago.. Lots of undertone and plot lines..)

My $.02..
Steve

[Strings]

>And if you've seen the movie, read the book carefully...  The divergence was almost sickening in spots..
(Hollywood screen writers, sheesh)..<

I wouldn't call it so much "departure" as I would "stealing the title and character names"...

[dwarven1]

Hello. New user here (just referred in from Oleg Volk's LiveJournal page). I've been reading Heinlein for nearly 40 years... and I'm 47. Two of my favorites have already been mentioned (Moon is a Harsh Mistress & ST), but another has not: The Door Into Summer.

Others I'd recommend for a new reader are Double Star (along with Moon, ST & Stranger, Double Star won the Hugo Award for best novel) and a collection of short stories titled "The Green Hills Of Earth" - I still get teary eyed reading the last stanza of the song in the title story.

And if any new readers are FreeMasons, you simply HAVE to read "If This Goes On-", published in The Past Through Tomorrow and Revolt in 2100. You'll know why when you read it. 

[Perd Hapley]

Farnam's Freehold was good but the incestousness was a bit distasteful. I'm all for practical libertarianism, but if you daughter is that willing to jump you something seems a little off.

Right.  They had to repopulate somehow, so incest might have been necessary.  But, "Daddy, you can have me anytime you want me," well, that was just disturbing.  I also found the dialog in the first few chapters to be so witty as to sound very contrived, especially given the fact that they were all sitting through a nuclear attack.  The plot was much different than I expected, but very interesting. 

I intend to read more Heinlein, but he's already alienating me a bit.  For one, he's not just a cat person, he's a cattist.  In FF, he had the nerve to criticize dogs for being slavish, or whatever.     I like doggies.  Cats I can take or leave.  But, it takes all kinds.   

For all the Lazarus Long fanboys, here's a cute little picture I found.  Nice shirt. 

[Sindawe]

I thought of For Us The Living, but it really does not make for a good introduction to his works.  Since it was the first novel, its a bit rough and unpolished and can overwhelm a new reader with the flood of ideas and concepts he developed in depth in his later works.

In FF, he had the nerve to criticize dogs for being slavish, or whatever.

Well, they are.  Its just the way their minds and social structure works.  Betas and below are subservient to the Alpha, and usually Humans are Alpha in a pack.

But how could you just take or leave a kitty like Odin?  He's so sweet he even still drinks from a bottle and loves his bath. 





Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=458282&in_page_id=1811

[Perd Hapley]

Well, they are.  Its just the way their minds and social structure works.  Betas and below are subservient to the Alpha, and usually Humans are Alpha in a pack.

You say that like it's a bad thing.  No, really, that's one thing I love about dogs.  Unconditional love for the hand that feeds them.  Patience to put up with whatever silly things you put them through, although they should revolt over that stupid bandanna around the neck trend.  I hate that.  Willingness to come when called and walk around with a leash on.  I guess I just don't see the point in judging animals by human standards.

I was thinking dogs probably wouldn't be much use if they weren't so subservient.  Unlike housecats, most dogs are big enough to be a serious danger if they won't submit.