I tried to do something clever here, but just got a blank screen. I guess that might say something about me. Have a great evening all. I'm out to enjoy the sweltering heat we're having here (81 degrees. Eek!)

It is true that Heinlein was all about the big idea, which is really true of many of the early "masters" of the genre, including Asimov, Clarke, del Ray, Clement and Van Vogt. It was all about envisioning the future, and when he was at his best, no one did that better than Heinlein. He could also tell a great story. As others have said, the best of them are the juveniles, which are rarely muddled by politics; his very weird views of women and sex; and his dire need of an editor in the later books. My recommendations would be Space Cadet (1948) through Glory Road (1963), skipping the truly appalling Podkayne of Mars. Then forget he wrote anything else and try not to think too much about Stranger in a Strange Land. I still reread the juveniles every couple of years. Certainly anyone who read Heinlein wouldn't have had the "why are there horses in space?" reaction to Firefly. Many of his books have a mix of high and low technology and he talks about the fact that horses can make more horses, while tractors can't make more tractors.

And The Green Hills of Earth and The Man Who Sold the Moon both make me sniffly.

The only Heilein books I have read are Stranger and Glory Road. I loved Glory Road. Was kind of "Eh" on Stranger. I have one male friend who thinks it's the greatest book ever (and another female friend who adores it) but found a disturbing parallel between his girlfriends reading it upon his insistance and them breaking up with him shortly thereafter. The only one who didn't fall into that cycle is now his wife, and she is, upon reflection, rather close to the stereotypical Heinlein woman referred to earlier in this thread.

Yeah, I wouldn't be opposed to reading other Heinlein ... in fact, I have a strange suspicion I've read at least one. Moon just didn't do it for me. But I'ma mark some of the recs here.

Glory Road is interesting in that it's a somewhat traditional fantasy story done sci-fi. It's probably been at least 5 years, I really should read it again because I don't remember much beyond that I enjoyed it.

I think Tim's version will actually be, you know, good. Whereas mine is, you know, sleazy.

I can't believe no one said this yet but, do you really think these two things are mutually exclusive?

And The Green Hills of Earth and The Man Who Sold the Moon both make me sniffly.

The Green Hills of Earth is so good that it should have been written by Bradbury instead.

I didn't go to the screening thing. I did have good food and great conversation, followed by horrendous Pride Week traffic.

Also? I still get disturbed when I see obvious prostitution/drug deals happening on the side streets off Sunset. I'll never shake the sadness over it.

Anywho, I hope any LAistas who went come back with a full report.

Hmmm. Heinlein again. I like that this topic keeps coming up (not that that's surprising or anything...)

Heinlein's best works are, easily, his short stories. Most especially, the entire Future History series, encapsulated in the (now tragically out of print) Past Through Tomorrow but available in bits and pieces in several short story collections.

Of his novels, as mentioned above, his juvie novels are the most consistently entertaining, and certainly the least offensive to those who are turned of by his rather strange views on politics, religion, and women. My personal favorites are The Door into Summer and Farmer in the Sky, but I've read many many others, with names like The Rolling Stones, Space Cadet, Tunnel in the Sky, and Glory Road. Slightly less juvenile-FEELING to me, (I believe they may contain some implied sex), but still quite good and of his earlier, less crack-induced period are The Puppet Masters and Starship Troopers. I can recommend the latter with no qualms, though the former has some issues.

Where Heinlein starts to get a little weird is in his later novels. Moon, obviously, is rather controversial here, and in many places - I personally love it, but then I still have tiny remainders of a libertarian spirit hidden somewhere in the back of my mind, and read it at a time when I had that spirit in spades. You can decide whether to read it based on the previous reviews, though I'd recommend at least giving it the old college try. If you hate it, you'll have fun complaining about it. =)

Stranger in a Strange Land is even more controversial, or at least was at the time it was published. I think it's controversial nature was actually the real reason it made the best seller list - the rebellious young folk at the time of its publication read it to piss off their parents and society in general. With it's free love statements and its religious message that felt decidedly LSD-inspired, it was pretty much perfect for that time period. I, personally, think it has lots of potential, which it proceeds to squander completely, and would not recommend it to the average reader except as a historically interesting phenomenon.

Anything else that Heinlein wrote that's longer than about 200 pages should be avoided like the plague, except perhaps Job: Comedy of Justice, though that has an even more false-feeling female character than the other novels (it's kind of funny at times, though). Time Enough for Love, The Cat who Walked through Walls, Number of the Beast, et cetera are all perfect examples of, well, pretty much utter crap. The first third of Time Enough for Love is actually decent, but after that, total crap. I wouldn't recommend reading any of these books.

In conclusion, if you want to like Heinlein: Short stories, then juvie novels, then Starship Troopers, then Moon, then Stranger, and then, if you're even more die-hard than me, everything else.

The juveniles, I think, hold up best of all, because they aren't hampered by Heinlein's attempts to wedge in his concepts about politics and gender relations.

Hm. My previous exposure was a Heinlein juvie, whose title I don't remember (it took place on Mars, I think) and I loathed it -- specifically for its politics and gender relations. It was about an evil evil corporation coming to abrogate the rights of the free settlers who had settled freely and were free and settlers. The boys got guns and were upstanding and bright and honorable, and the girls were giggly and couldn't wait to follow their mothers into the kitchen. Since I read it for a (children's) library collection development class, I ended up recommending that it be discarded.

Let us say that it aged badly. I'm sure, in 1947, people must have thought it was a fun novel. Of course, in 1947, mayonnaise was one of the four food groups.

Actually, I find the later, idiotic sexaholic Heinlein novels less annoying than the earlier ones, because the later ones are like romance novels for men. The earlier ones seem to take themselves seriously.