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| Thread: Robert A. Heinlein | |
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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
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posted January 22, 2016 12:51 PM |
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Robert A. Heinlein
Is anyone a fan of his works ?
Some quotes from his well-known Starship Troopers that I'd like to share for a start:
" … I was not making fun of you personally; I was heaping scorn on an inexcusably silly idea — a practice I shall always follow. Anyone who clings to the historically untrue and thoroughly immoral doctrine that violence never settles anything I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler could referee and the jury might well be the Dodo, the Great Auk, and the Passenger Pigeon. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms."
If you wanted to teach a baby a lesson, would you cut its head off? Of course not. You'd paddle it. There can be circumstances when it's just as foolish to hit an enemy city with an H-bomb as it would be to spank a baby with an axe. War is not violence and killing, pure and simple; war is controlled violence, for a purpose. The purpose of war is to support your government's decisions by force. The purpose is never to kill the enemy just to be killing him...but to make him do what you want to do. Not killing...but controlled and purposeful violence. But it's not your business or mine to decide the purpose of the control. It's never a soldier's business to decide when or where or how—or why—he fights; that belongs to the statesmen and the generals. The statesmen decide why and how much; the generals take it from there and tell us where and when and how. We supply the violence; other people—'older and wiser heads,' as they say—supply the control. Which is as it should be."
That old saw about "to understand all is to forgive all" is a lot of tripe. Some things, the more you understand the more you loathe them.
And my favorite:
Life? What 'right' to life has a man who is drowning in the Pacific? The ocean will not hearken to his cries. What 'right' to life has a man who must die to save his children? If he chooses to save his own life, does he do so as a matter of 'right'? If two men are starving and cannibalism is the only alternative to death, which man's right is 'unalienable'? And is it 'right'? As to liberty, the heroes who signed the great document pledged themselves to buy liberty with their lives. Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes. Of all the so-called natural human rights that have ever been invented, liberty is least likely to be cheap and is never free of cost. The third 'right'?—the 'pursuit of happiness'? It is indeed unalienable but it is not a right; it is simply a universal condition which tyrants cannot take away nor patriots restore. Cast me into a dungeon, burn me at the stake, crown me king of kings, I can 'pursue happiness' as long as my brain lives—but neither gods nor saints, wise men nor subtle drugs, can ensure that I will catch it."
Comments?
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Homer171
Promising
Supreme Hero
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posted January 23, 2016 08:55 AM |
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Did not know the guy before you mentioned 
Have you read the Starship Troopers novel? I liked the first Starship Troopers movie but others would be best undone. Liked the text, not so hard to image the contex.
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Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
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posted January 23, 2016 08:58 AM |
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I liked the first Starship Troopers movie... also the only one I saw. The book is better though. More content and different in style.
He's famous as a sci-fi writer, among the likes of Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke. 
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mvassilev
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
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posted January 23, 2016 09:50 PM |
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I still haven't read Starship Troopers, Stranger In A Strange Land, or The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (I'm such a philistine), but I've read one of his less popular books, For Us The Living, which wasn't particularly good.
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Homer171
Promising
Supreme Hero
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posted January 23, 2016 10:02 PM |
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mvassilev said:
(I'm such a philistine)
Haha, never heard that reference before 
I'm pretty ashamed that I haven't read any sci-fi novels myself. Knight and Dragons have always been my thing, I guess.
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Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.
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Drakon-Deus
Undefeatable Hero
Qapla'
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posted January 24, 2016 06:55 AM |
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I see, Homer. Maybe there should be a topic for fantasy novels... I have a particular series in mind.
I hadn't heard of Heinlein by myself, but my uncle recommended him to me, I was lucky that we still got a hold of science fiction novels in Communist Romania, or I might not even have encountered the name for all I know.
Starship Troopers won me over and subsequently I saw the movie for Starship Troopers, as well as read: Methuselah's Children, Orphans of the Sky, Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough for Love, but I also have yet to read The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.
“Always listen to experts. They'll tell you what can't be done, and why. Then do it.”
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BurntPhoenix
Hired Hero
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posted January 24, 2016 09:27 AM |
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I think I need to make another stop at the local library and see if they have a copy of ST---- those quotes and eloquence have got me sold... and I liked the movie for all its campy fun. I'm still juggling between two other novels, and then there's still a couple textbooks for school I haven't opened yet but need to soon 
Btw, I remember Asimov's story "The Last Question" being classic and demanding of a re-read somewhere down the line.
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fred79
Disgraceful
Undefeatable Hero
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posted January 29, 2016 03:24 AM |
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i just ran across one of his quotes online, and i'm going to add it to the quotes thread.
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted January 29, 2016 05:36 AM |
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Starship Troopers was a decent read. Actually, I find it fascinating to read science fiction that was written a long time ago. It's always interesting to see what were previous concepts of what the future would be like.
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I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg
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bloodsucker
Legendary Hero
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posted January 30, 2016 01:52 AM |
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Yeah, "A stranger in a strange land" was one of my favorite books when I was an adolescent. But the one was "Also sparch Zaratustra", so...
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Dies_Irae
Supreme Hero
with the perfect plan
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posted January 30, 2016 10:12 AM |
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Looks like a tough read, judging by those quotes. According to Wikipedia:
Starship Troopers seems to have been meant as a political essay as well as a novel. Large portions of the book take place in classrooms, with Rico and other characters engaged in debates with their History and Moral Philosophy teacher, who is often thought to represent Heinlein's opinion. The overall theme of the book is that social responsibility requires individual sacrifice.
Whether or not this is an accurate description of the novel can only be determined by someone who has read the book  . I haven't read it, I don't even know this Henlein guy, but it looks interesting. And when it comes to this kind of political, philosophical or social commentary wrapped up in a 'novel', I am somewhat experienced. I've read a number of books by my personal hero H.G. Wells, whose A Modern Utopia (1905) and The Shape of Things to Come (1933) count as the toughest reads I ever experienced. The latter takes the shape of some kind of history book written in the beginning of the 22nd century (2105) and looks back at the world of 'today'. The former at least has some hint of a novel, with characters moving to and fro, but for the large part it is what the title would suggest.
If you like 'old sci-fi', Wells is a good one to consider. And with a story comes a good deal of commentary, sometimes obvious, sometimes less so. This happens even in iconic stories such as The War of the Worlds (1898).
I own a total of 11 books by Wells, which makes him the most represented author in my humble collection . I think I'll give Starship Troopers a try.
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