# On Re-reading all of Robert Heinlein via The Virginia Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 14, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729 "2012-10-14T23:52:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/41 "2012-10-18T14:09:51Z")
My reread until the pages fell out paperback copy was printed back in the late 60s. The one with the green cover featuring the bug-looking retrieval boat. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/42 "2012-10-18T14:26:44Z")
My first one was a paperback with Rico on the cover is Darth Vader looking armor. Sometime in the early 1980s. It was terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/43 "2012-10-18T15:38:11Z")
I’ve been introducing my son, 12, to Heinlein. We’ve read _Podkayne of Mars_ and _Have Space Suit - Will Travel_ together. I think we’ll do _Space Cadet_ next; _Time for the Stars, Starship Troopers_ and _Glory Road_ are also old favorites of mine. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Citizen of the Galaxy [is]… one of those novels that basically describe a civilization and examine it by having a single character travel through all parts of it. Larry Niven (a huge Heinlein fan) used the same concept in _Destiny’s Road_… Not sf, but Gary Jennings masterfully does the same thing in his epic historical novel _Aztec_. One of my favorites. > [@detop](#): > > _Monet for nothing and TITS for free_ 😃 FTW! > [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > My first one was a paperback with Rico on the cover is Darth Vader looking armor. Sometime in the early 1980s. It was terrible. This one?: [http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n0/n1835.jpg](http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n0/n1835.jpg) I preferred it to this, at least: [http://www.lwcurrey.com/pictures/133436.jpg](http://www.lwcurrey.com/pictures/133436.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/44 "2012-10-18T16:19:25Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I preferred it to this, at least: [http://www.lwcurrey.com/pictures/133436.jpg](http://www.lwcurrey.com/pictures/133436.jpg) This cover looks quite similar to the [Avalon Hill game box](https://www.msu.edu/user/storto/sst.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Ruby\_Slippers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/94ad74/32.png) [@Ruby\_Slippers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby_Slippers)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/45 "2012-10-18T16:21:36Z")
I was a huge Heinlein fan in my early years. Still am for the most part, but I’m looking forward to your comments about \*Number of the Beast \*and _Time Enough for Love_. I don’t think of these as his finest hours. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/46 "2012-10-18T17:11:32Z")
> [@detop](#): > > This cover looks quite similar to the [Avalon Hill game box](https://www.msu.edu/user/storto/sst.htm) Both dopey IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/47 "2012-10-18T17:17:18Z")
[This one](http://cache0.bdcdn.net/assets/images/book/medium/9780/4250/9780425049969.jpg) at least shows _something_. Or [this one](http://images.mydala.com/uploads/event/2012-05-09/25831/25831_1.jpg), which was from the uniform re-issue back in the 80s. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/48 "2012-10-19T03:28:16Z")
Of course, a lot of science fiction books would just get a random SF-ish picture slapped on the cover, without regards to anything that actually happened in the book. So something that at least shows a dude in armor can’t be all _that_ bad. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/49 "2012-10-20T10:59:50Z")
**Interstitial on reading Starship Trooper 2** I have just finished gotten to the part where Rico graduates from boot camp. In this edition it’s page 103. The total page count for the book is 208. That means 50% of the book (a hair less) takes place before the action begins. This is not your typical war book. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/50 "2012-10-20T15:14:20Z")
Well, the book does start off _in media res_. So there has been some action there. Wasn’t the 20-second bomb in the first couple of pages? ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/51 "2012-10-20T22:46:53Z")
> [@Ruby\_Slippers](#): > > I was a huge Heinlein fan in my early years. Still am for the most part, but I’m looking forward to your comments about \*Number of the Beast \*and _Time Enough for Love_. I don’t think of these as his finest hours. For TEFL, skip the chapters that take place on Secundus and Tertius. “The Man who was too lazy to fail” and “The tale of twins that weren’t” are classics. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/52 "2012-10-20T22:50:25Z")
Skipping the Tertius chapters would also mean skipping “Tale of the Adopted Daughter”, though. Which is probably the only chapter in the whole book where Lazarus isn’t lying through his teeth. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/53 "2012-10-20T22:52:52Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Skipping the Tertius chapters would also mean skipping “Tale of the Adopted Daughter”, though. Which is probably the only chapter in the whole book where Lazarus isn’t lying through his teeth. And which in my opinion is the best part of the whole book. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/54 "2012-10-20T23:47:46Z")
While I’m not to that book yet I’ll say that the Tale of the Adopted Daughter _is_ essentially the book. Dora taught him that living forever isn’t a long time. She loved as well as he did and that made it all worthwhile. If ‘Time Enough for Love’ comes from anywhere in the text it’s from that story. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/55 "2012-10-21T00:55:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Well, the book does start off _in media res_. So there has been some action there. Wasn’t the 20-second bomb in the first couple of pages? Yes. I always chuckle when the room clears of skinnies. ---
**Author:** ![Algher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Algher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algher)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/56 "2012-10-21T02:07:49Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes. I always chuckle when the room clears of skinnies. It also predicted something I later had a DI yell at me - “Do something, Algher, even if its wrong!” ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/57 "2012-10-21T02:24:40Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > In “Space Cadet” one of the cadets waiting in line at induction mentions that he turned off his phone so he wouldn’t have to talk to his parents. Also in “Between Planets” the main character is out horseback riding in the canyon when he gets a phone call. Future generations aren’t going to realize that these were supposed to be throw-away science fictional bits. Yeah, I love the bit with the phone in _Space Cadet_. It really is a beautiful bit of prediction/world-building that would now go right over anyone’s head–not just miniaturized portable telephones, but the implications of being always available, including the Embarassing Conversation in a Public Place. There’s even a hint of the possibility of ring tones in that one too–Matt doesn’t notice his phone is ringing until Tex points it out to him (implying that, you know, some way of personalizing the darned things might be helpful…) Another bit of futurism/world-building that goes right over everyone’s head these days: In _Between Planets_, there’s a casual mention of the hero having to get his bags X-rayed when boarding a spaceship–IIRC, the word “fluoroscoped” may have been used. Well, now of course, we pay no attention to that little detail…but I’m pretty sure routine X-raying of bags/putting all passengers through metal detectors didn’t become standard practice until maybe the early 1970s. (_Between Planets_ was from 1951.) World-building/futurism, and also a hint that this particular future is somewhat dystopian–on the one hand, there may be people who try to smuggle bombs onto spaceships and rocket shuttles. On the other hand, this is a government that routinely goes snooping through everyone’s luggage. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/58 "2012-10-21T03:18:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Skipping the Tertius chapters would also mean skipping “Tale of the Adopted Daughter”, though. Which is probably the only chapter in the whole book where Lazarus isn’t lying through his teeth. First, learn what the concept of fiction means. Also the "Tale of the Adopted Daughter " doesn’t actually take place on Secundus, it is a flashback. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/59 "2012-10-21T16:08:22Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > …Another bit of futurism/world-building that goes right over everyone’s head these days: In _Between Planets_, there’s a casual mention of the hero having to get his bags X-rayed when boarding a spaceship–IIRC, the word “fluoroscoped” may have been used. Well, now of course, we pay no attention to that little detail… The same thing happens to interplanetary travelers in _Podkayne of Mars_ (1963). ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/60 "2012-10-22T00:50:32Z")
And another one is down. Only about 40 to go. _ **Volume III: Starship Troopers** _ This is the book where Heinlein started catching flack from all sides of the aisle. Certainly, published in 1959 it was far too early for the hippies and such who would later excoriate it as militaristic or even fascist in tone. Certainly the later movie painted it in that way. But as discussed in the introduction this is a book that almost didn’t get written. Heinlein got distracted prior to it being written by, of all things, nuclear test bans. All writing for anything was suspending following the call, by SANE, for President Eisenhower to unilaterally forgo testing any nuclear weapons. In 1958 Heinlein dropped everything except campaigning to ensure that such did NOT happen. As a product of the depth of the cold war he, and Virginia, were convinced that such a thing would only encourage the Soviets to pursue aggressive policies aimed at the destruction of the United States. Heinlein paid for full page ads in newspapers, a letter-writing campaign, and anything else he could think to try. But none of it worked and later Eisenhower did, indeed, cease all weapons testing. Heinlein’s campaign had failed. And he stopped writing. For months. In his mind, possibly forever. He put aside his work on the first half of “A Martian Named Smith” saying he had no heart for it. Until a chain of thinking caused him to begin writing this book. A book specifically aimed at instilling respect for moral thinking and duty. Rather than being his basic Alger tales that so many of his previous juveniles had been this one spent a great deal of time with both internal and external monologues dealing with the issues and concepts that make one a citizen in the fullest sense. While this book IS an Alger tale unlike earlier books the point-of-view character, Juan Rico doesn’t save the world (as the POV characters do in _Have Space Suit Will Travel_ and _The Star Beast_) instead Rico succeeds in only striving to realize his position as citizen and succeeding in the military. He wins no battles, he advances no agenda on a great capacity. Instead, in the three military actions we see him in he fails at the tasks he’s given. In the first chapter he attempts pick up on another soldier who dies. In Operation Bug Hunt everything goes to hell. And in the final operation on Planet P he’s knocked out of action and wakes up later under a doctor’s care. This illustrates that the point of Starship Troopers, as a book, is not to glorify battle but rather to glorify a young man’s process of growing into his adult responsibilities. The point of the book is not to show the grand process of the war but the process of Rico thinking about what he has seen and learned and to draw lessons and develop from it. It might be one of Heinlein’s greatest character arcs. It certainly challenges any of his others such as Manny in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress or Don in Between Planets. I will note, however, in the introduction that Heinlein saw the book as a response to what he called pacifists who were pushing the United States into what he thought of as dangerous policies of allowing the enemies of the USA to advance while his country was held back. This was a book written with a clear goal in mind: to influence a generation of boys and young men into respecting duty and citizenship and that a price may be paid for both. Coming next: How to Be a Politician (alternately titled ‘Take Back Your Government’) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729.md?page=4)