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Title: Requiem by Robert Heinlein, Yoji Kondo ISBN: 0-7857-3689-1 Publisher: Bt Bound Pub. Date: October, 1999 Format: Library Binding List Price(USD): $15.30 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Something for everyone
Comment: There's something in this volume for anyone with any interest in Robert Anson Heinlein, whether positive or negative.
Naturally there are all sorts of glowing tributes to the man. Well, he'd certainly earned them; while reporting to John W. Campbell, he all but singlehandedly founded the genre of modern science fiction, and in the course of a fifty-year writing career he created some of the most memorable characters in _any_ sort of fiction. It is no exaggeration to say that without his contributions, human beings would probably not yet have set foot on the moon. And at the personal level, he was capable of genuinely courtly behavior.
Among the contributors is (of course) Spider Robinson, reprising his over-the-top 'Rah! Rah! R.A.H.!' and following it up with a piece entitled 'Robert'. You may find portions of these a little hard to take even if you like Spider (as I do); they're a bit much even as eulogies.
(In my own view, they rather miss the point of the handful of responsible criticisms of Heinlein, although they're pretty much on the mark as regards some of the silly ones. In general Spider is a warmly humane writer, and the only subject on which I've ever seen him become unpleasant is in defense of Heinlein -- either directly or in promoting an idea he acknowledges learning from Heinlein.)
Other contributors include Tom Clancy, Poul Anderson, Joe Haldeman, Greg Bear, and other SF luminaries. And of course Virginia Heinlein is on hand as well. There's even a most gentlemanly comment from Arthur C. Clarke. And the volume is edited by Yoji Kondo, who made a cameo appearance in _The Cat Who Walked Through Walls_.
(Conspicuously absent from the wake is Isaac Asimov, who had known Heinlein considerably longer than the majority of the contributors. Well, if you've read Asimov's comments on Heinlein in e.g. _I. Asimov: A Memoir_, you can probably do the math.)
There are also some selections from Heinlein's hard-to-find early writings (including one or two that haven't been published before), and several of his speeches. These are nice to have, and not just for their interest as mementos of Heinlein's early career. They're of interest for another reason as well -- one not so flattering to Heinlein.
As deeply as I've admired Heinlein's fiction, I've never been a fan of his nonfiction. Partly this is a matter of tone; his tub-thumping pronouncements of custardheadedness just rub me the wrong way. But partly it's a matter of competence as well. There are certainly _some_ subjects he was competent to discuss, but he didn't limit himself to discussing those.
In particular, on _philosophical_ subjects he was talking through his hat. I'll defer to his opinions on ballistics and mechanical engineering, but not on epistemology and ethics; on those subjects, he simply didn't know what he was talking about (even though he continued talking about them for the rest of his life, e.g. in his interview with J. Neil Schulman).
I find him extremely hard to take when he sounds off about the alleged silliness of philosophy, especially when he then proceeds to propound much greater silliness himself. Generally, people who dismiss philosophy as pseudointellectual bunk are thereby _adopting_ a philosophical position themselves -- typically, an unreflective, allegedly 'hard-headed', highly controversial, and deeply inconsistent form of 'scientific' empiricism. Not only was Heinlein entirely typical in this respect, he tended to misuse the very terminology of the philosophies he thought he was discussing. (See his 'definitions' of the words 'phenomena' and 'noumena' in the aforementioned interview with Schulman.)
To disabuse yourself of his reliability in ethical philosophy, you'll have to look elsewhere; there's not much discussion of it here. (If reading _Expanded Universe_ didn't convince you Heinlein wasn't trustworthy on that subject, you must have skipped two-thirds of it. Or else you're Spider Robinson, who seems to have been far more impressed by that book than I was.)
The fun stuff here is in epistemology. Check out those old speeches: as long ago as 1941, Heinlein was touting Count Alfred Korzybski as a greater genius than Einstein and trying to expound General Semantics to an audience of SF writers and fans. As I've said elsewhere, Asimov's status as the Great Explainer was never in any danger from RAH.
Just as an intellectual exercise, it's fun to go through this stuff and try to count the errors. I'll get you started with a hint: if it's true that we're never justified in claiming to _know_ a universal generalization, what's the epistemological status of _that_ universal generalization?
(Did I hear someone in the audience say 'De mortuis nil nisi bonum'? But Heinlein's own Col. Dubois insisted that it was not only okay but ethically mandatory to heap scorn on inexcusably silly ideas wherever they appear.)
At any rate, this volume functions not only as a tribute that Heinlein richly deserved, but also as an antidote to readers with a tendency to put the guy on a pedestal and ignore his intellectual bumptiousness (and mean-uncle surliness). In that capacity it belongs on the shelf next to _Expanded Universe_, Schulman's book, and _Grumbles from the Grave_.
Rating: 5
Summary: Stranger in His Own Land: A Phenomenal Tribute to Heinlein
Comment: Yoji Kondo, an accomplished NASA scientist (and SF writer) in his own right, brings honor to the writings and philosophies of Robert A. Heinlein, a groundbreaking, sometimes controversial science fiction writer who always left his readers thinking.
This tribute, lovingly assembled by Kondo, brings together some of Heinlein's fantastic fiction with the impressions of his many admirers.
Kondo was so loyal a friend that he spearheaded a successful campaign to have a Martian crater named for Heinlein. That gesture -- and this impressive collection of fiction and accolade -- is a testament not only to Heinlein, but also to his many fans.
Rating: 5
Summary: An absolute must for RAH fans
Comment: If you are a fan of Robert A. Heinlein, and have read most of his works, then I reccommend this book unceasingly to you. It has 200+ pages of never-before-published Heinlein fiction (as well as the short title story - one of the man's best, and the one that also shot him to fame.) These include two novellas: Tenderfoot In Space - written for Boy's Life, and Destination: Moon - Heinlein's story version that would lead to the script and movie of the same name. Also included are two stories he wrote for girls (!), his remembrance of the filming of Destination Moon, a short poem, and the text of three speeches he made at the World Science Fiction Convention, where he was Guest of Honor an unprecented three times. Also included is are the proceedings of NASA's Heinlein Expedition, where he received (posthumously) their Distinguished Public Service Medal, their highest civilian honor awarded. This includes a reading of his inspirational piece "This I Believe" (which I had read at a local meeting of ours) by his wife, Virginia Heinlein, and several short speeches by such people as Tom Clancy and Jerry Pournelle. The heart of the book for many, though, will be the third section, in which many of Heinlein's famous contemporay writers (as well as an editor and a Navy colleague) write their remembrances of the man. It's very poignant and humbling to see world-famous writers speaking of Heinlein in such highly reverent terms - almost as if they were speaking of God Himself. This goes some way towards showing what an incredible man Heinlein was, and what a tremendous influence he had on the field of science fiction. To see Arthur C. Clarke himself - the only writer, along with Asimov, who you'll ever see mentioned in the same breath as the Grand Master - waxing rememeric on the man is a testament to RAH's vision and integrity. Poul Anderson's piece is particularly memorable. Larry Niven contributes the only fiction piece (a small masterpiece, incorporating Heinlein as a major character), and the long defense of Heinlein by Spider Robinson makes for extremely interesting reading. This is an absolute must-read for anybody who considers themselves a Heinlein fan. It's an incredible book, and shows what an incredibly tremendous influence had on the field of SF, and on the 20th century in general. I gladly put it on my bookshelf, and I'm not afraid to admit - as Arthur C. Clarke does in a blurb on the cover - that I cried while reading it.
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Title: For Us, The Living : A Comedy of Customs by Robert A. Heinlein, Spider Robinson, Robert James ISBN: 074325998X Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 06 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Fantasies of Robert A. Heinlein by Robert A. Heinlein ISBN: 0312875576 Publisher: Tor Books Pub. Date: 17 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Robert Heinlein Interview and Other Heinleiniana by J. Neil Schulman, Brad Linaweaver ISBN: 1584450150 Publisher: Pulpless.Com Pub. Date: 31 January, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Assignment In Eternity by Robert A. Heinlein ISBN: 0671578650 Publisher: Baen Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: GRUMBLES FROM THE GRAVE by Robert A. Heinlein ISBN: 0345362462 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 18 November, 1989 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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