Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Heinlein’s Best?
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Was it The Moon is a Harsh Mistress--a brilliant political and social commentary wrapped up in an exciting story about revolution? How about Stranger in a Strange Land, his best-known book? The amazingly wide-ranging Time Enough for Love is not only a massive book, but it encompasses so many different genres of fiction all tied up into a coherent science fiction theme.
Friday deserves mention as does Job: A Comedy of Justice. But many people prefer the earlier period where it would be foolish to ignore Starship Troopers. The g-phrase is partial to her battered and well-loved copy of The Door Into Summer. And Have Space Suit--Will Travel may have been my favorite book as a young teen--unless it was Tunnel in the Sky. Or Starman Jones.
Sadly, after all that, I’ve probably missed a book that could easily qualify as Heinlein’s best--and if that had bee all he’d written, it would have qualified as an amazing legacy.
As for me, my very favorite is still The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
Unless it’s Time Enough for Love...
Comments & Trackbacks
I got nothing for Heinlein.
Philip K. Dick, though… His best novel was “The Man in the High Castle.”
Also, I meant to bring this on an earlier post, but one of the best Beatles songs ever was “You Never Give Me Your Money.”
Sorry, I’m in a random mood tonight.
I’ve only read a couple of Dick’s books. Heinlein held him in extremely high esteem, however, which speaks well of his talents.
That’s one of the best Beatles song titles, to be sure.
Heheh.
Tunnel in the Sky is my favorite, without a doubt. I’ve re-read that book more times than any book, ever.
Starship Troopers is good.
Space Cadet is good for the testing and training sequences...taught me more about space in one novel than I would think is possible.
The Day After Tomorrow (also known as The Fifth Column) is also excellent.
And of course, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
Those are my top Five, just about in order. I stopped reading Heinlein when he stopped writing SF and started writing soft-core porn novels.
Troopers is a good book, but I prefer the older Heinlein to the younger. I had a professor who tried to convince me otherwise, but I think he was just creeped out by the ever-present incest in older Heinlein’s work.
Job was amusing, but it also seemed a little bit jaded to me. Kind of uncharacteristic of RAH.
I found the incest creepy, too, but not enough to keep me from reading the books.
I can’t say I preferred the older or the younger--I just like the each for entirely different reasons. There were only a few books of his that I didn’t enjoy. What’s really a treat, though, is reading the short stories and novellas. “If This Goes On--” is still one of my favorites to read when I don’t have the time or inclination to dive back into a novel.
Lots of people give me crap for this, but I rally enjoyed “Number of the Beast”. Almost all his books brought me into the story and made me feel for the characters, this one made me go on my own flights of fantasy and ‘what ifs’ like none of his other books.
For the shorter work, I like ‘Gulf’ and ‘Magic, Inc.’ One that comes to mind occasionally, although I haven’t read it in years, is ‘Jerry was a Man.’
For novels, ‘The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,’ ‘Stranger in a Strange Land,’ and ‘Starship Troopers’ are my favorites. Recently, I picked up ‘Orphans of the Sky’ at a used paperback store (so that I can reread it after lo, these many moons).
Well, anyone can tell on my blog that “Moon” is my favorite. But, in close order after that would be, for novels, “The Rolling Stones” and “Tunnel in the Sky”. “Troopers” is great too, but not a top pick. Greatest story he told? If you’re a space travel nut can there be any doubt that it’s “The Man Who Sold the Moon” + “Requiem”?