# 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:** 36
**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:** [December 31, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/701 "2013-12-31T02:26:03Z")
Earth girls are easy. Or so I’ve heard. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/702 "2015-02-08T03:56:08Z")
Was just in Clyde, Ohio today, and happened to see the grave of Rodger Young, immortalized in _Starship Troopers_: > **[Rodger Young](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodger_Wilton_Young)** > > Rodger Wilton Young (April 28, 1918 – July 31, 1943) was a United States Army infantryman from Ohio during World War II. Born in the small town of Tiffin, Ohio, in 1932, Young suffered a sports injury in high school that led to his becoming nearly deaf and blind. Despite this, Young was able to pass the exams necessary to enter the Ohio National Guard. Soon after the United States entered World War II, Young's company was activated as part of the U.S. Army. Soon after his activation, in 1943, ... > **[Rodger Wilton Young (1918-1943) - Find a Grave...](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/20871/rodger-wilton-young)** > > World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. He served in the United States Army during World War II as a Private in the 148th Infantry, 37th Infantry Division (the Ohio Buckeyes). He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery on New Georgia, Solomon... [![](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/e0dc8eb0-7eb3-4716-b7a1-4364a45acdc0/d744wy1-f662bc9d-51fe-4a21-a9f9-3e1fc9bc9e89.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTpmaWxlLmRvd25sb2FkIl0sIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi9lMGRjOGViMC03ZWIzLTQ3MTYtYjdhMS00MzY0YTQ1YWNkYzAvZDc0NHd5MS1mNjYyYmM5ZC01MWZlLTRhMjEtYTlmOS0zZTFmYzliYzllODkuanBnIn1dXX0._gEXZCDTlWX_8lSIxLgjbYEFoWCSXd9wukwHY_0MyE4) ](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/e0dc8eb0-7eb3-4716-b7a1-4364a45acdc0/d744wy1-f662bc9d-51fe-4a21-a9f9-3e1fc9bc9e89.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwic3ViIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTpmaWxlLmRvd25sb2FkIl0sIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiIvZi9lMGRjOGViMC03ZWIzLTQ3MTYtYjdhMS00MzY0YTQ1YWNkYzAvZDc0NHd5MS1mNjYyYmM5ZC01MWZlLTRhMjEtYTlmOS0zZTFmYzliYzllODkuanBnIn1dXX0._gEXZCDTlWX_8lSIxLgjbYEFoWCSXd9wukwHY_0MyE4) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/703 "2015-02-08T04:28:31Z")
_Bzzzz…ork!_ Huh? What? Oh. Did, uh, did we finish reading Heinlein? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/704 "2015-02-08T05:11:49Z")
Reminds me that I just re-read ( well actually read, since it was the revised version I hadn’t encountered before ) _Red Planet_ about two weeks ago. Bought it on an impulse, since I hadn’t seen a new print copy in forever. As I’ve mentioned before it has huge nostalgic color for me, since it was the first novel I ever read. My father, very shortly before my parents divorced, let me pick one novel from a dimestore rack ( I went for a lurid cover and surprisingly eneded up with a fun adventure, albeit in the middle of a series - Michael Moorcock’s _The Runestaff_ ) and he picked out _Red Planet_ for me. Anyway all that emotion aside, I was kinda intrigued by the restored addition. Particularly all the stuff about Willis being an egg-laying she about to enter a 40-year metamophosis before becoming an adult male. And the main character’s, ah, character definitely gets more development in the restoration. He actually comes off as much more of a semi-dysfuntional hot mess of a hothead, who nonetheless shows a smidgin of growth by the end. I guess if I were to be honest it still is a pretty slight book in some ways, quite early RAH’s career. But heck I still loved Willis, even after all this time :). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/705 "2015-02-08T17:29:51Z")
At [The Gnome Press Release](http://GnomePress.com), I’m compiling a new bibliography for the small press publisher Gnome, which published four Heinlein titles in hardcovers. Each book [del]will[/del] is supposed to be accompanied by a short introduction. I’m adding a book every week or so, and the only Heinlein up so far is [Sixth Column](http://gnomepress.com/single-staters/sixth-column/), much improved by help from Doper AndyL. _Methuselah’s Children_, _The Menace from Earth_, and \*The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag \*will follow later this near. Or next. I think you’d like the site even besides the Heinleins, and if you have any comments or corrections I’d be thrilled to accommodate them. For those of you who didn’t see the thread on it, that site is part of a larger project, not future history but a history of the future, called [Flying Cars and Food Pills](http://www.flyingcarsandfoodpills.com/). Same solicitation of comments goes for that site. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/706 "2015-02-08T17:40:51Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’m adding a book every week or so, and the only Heinlein up so far is [Sixth Column](http://gnomepress.com/single-staters/sixth-column/), much improved by help from Doper AndyL. Thanks for the mention (and the link to your writing at Gnome Press Release) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/707 "2015-02-08T18:32:48Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > And the main character’s, ah, character definitely gets more development in the restoration. He actually comes off as much more of a semi-dysfuntional hot mess of a hothead, who nonetheless shows a smidgin of growth by the end. He’ped along by his trusty six-shooter, pard’ner. Funny that Heinlein would make one of his slightly jerkier juvenile heroes the one to brag loudly about carrying a gun. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/708 "2015-02-08T18:35:54Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > At [The Gnome Press Release](http://GnomePress.com), I’m compiling a new bibliography for the small press publisher Gnome, which published four Heinlein titles in hardcovers. Each book [del]will[/del] is supposed to be accompanied by a short introduction. Cool. I have two of the Gnome editions, one of which an expert colleague called “the finest example of the book he’d ever seen.” It looks like it just came out of a case in 1950. (One point being, the Gnome printings were not of the highest quality… many technical VF copies have original flaws.) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/709 "2015-02-08T19:45:46Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Funny that Heinlein would make one of his slightly jerkier juvenile heroes the one to brag loudly about carrying a gun. 🙂 And repeatedly threatens to shoot people. Yep, I’m just gonna mow the headmaster down if he doesn’t give in to my hysterical, teary demands. Not exactly a poster boy for responsible teen gun ownership. Good old Jim - nice enough guy, but not all that…stable ;). Funny how the addition of just snippets of dialogue completely shifts and fleshes out the character perspectives. Now Frank comes off as the relative voice of reason, while Jim seems younger, stupider and in dire need of some meds adjustment. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > \*The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag \*will follow later this near. Or next. Cool. Possibly my favorite Heinlein :). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/710 "2015-02-08T22:45:32Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Cool. I have two of the Gnome editions, one of which an expert colleague called “the finest example of the book he’d ever seen.” It looks like it just came out of a case in 1950. (One point being, the Gnome printings were not of the highest quality… many technical VF copies have original flaws.) If you line them up in order of publication, as I have them now, you can almost watch the quality of the production go down over time. Every once in a while Greenberg would have money and sink it into a book (the anthologies he edited are all well made, interestingly) but at the beginning he and Dave Kyle were learning the business and at the end he was desperate for cash. The rest is mostly luck in finding a copy that sat in somebody’s collection for years. I bought an I, Robot from the person Asimov inscribed it to and it’s near mint. Got it 32 years ago for a price so laughably low you’d rend your garment if I said it out loud. It was 33 years old at the time, thinking about it. Doubling the age of books and of cheap paper means that all the good copies have gone the way of high-end art; you can’t find any on the open market except the ones that go from high-end collector to high-end dealer to high-end collector. Lloyd Currey has a half dozen copies of Sixth Column for sale, all VG and up. The real problem is that all the high-end dealers are older than me. What happens to their multimillion dollar inventories when they all retire soon? ---
**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:** [February 9, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/711 "2015-02-09T23:37:13Z")
_Red Planet_ was one of my favorites as a kid, though in retrospect, I’m not really sure why-- There’s just not much to it. Nowadays, I mostly appreciate it for nostalgia value. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/712 "2015-02-10T01:13:21Z")
Damn Cecil Adams and the SDMB ----- now I want this entire set but $1500??? Hard to justify. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/713 "2015-03-18T16:09:01Z")
Hey Jonathan: FINISH THE THREAD! Love and kisses, Everyone. 😉 ---
**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:** [March 18, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/714 "2015-03-18T16:17:05Z")
This thread about the new Heinlein-inspired movie _Predestination_ might also be of interest: [Predestination: New Heinlein movie has been made [edited title] - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=735650) ---
**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 7, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/715 "2015-10-07T20:21:10Z")
Six months later, and the OP still hasn’t resumed reading. Hey, **JC**!! Get back to work!! ---
**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:** [March 21, 2018, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/716 "2018-03-21T19:24:15Z")
Bumped. I just zipped through a 2006 audiobook of Heinlein’s _Citizen of the Galaxy_, about a young slave boy in a distant-future interstellar society. Not bad. The reader, Lloyd James, had some fun with the voices - Baslim the Cripple sounds like Sean Connery, Grandmother like Katharine Hepburn, and Capt. Brisby an awful lot like… Ronald Reagan! ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/717 "2018-03-21T20:53:47Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Bumped. > > I just zipped through a 2006 audiobook of Heinlein’s _Citizen of the Galaxy_, about a young slave boy in a distant-future interstellar society. Not bad. The reader, Lloyd James, had some fun with the voices - Baslim the Cripple sounds like Sean Connery, Grandmother like Katharine Hepburn, and Capt. Brisby an awful lot like… Ronald Reagan! Gosh! I haven’t read CotG for years but I remember it as classic Heinlein i.e. very good… ---
**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:** [March 21, 2018, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/718 "2018-03-21T21:20:28Z")
CotG was my first exposure to Finnish culture. Some good lessons to be learned from that 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:** [March 21, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/719 "2018-03-21T21:22:48Z")
I didn’t know there was any Finnish culture in it. Was that the model for the Free Traders’ marriage rules? ---
**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:** [March 21, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729/720 "2018-03-21T21:24:42Z")
Yep. Look up the term “sisu,” which was the name of the ship that took Thorby aboard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729.md?page=35) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-re-reading-all-of-robert-heinlein-via-the-virginia-edition/637729.md?page=37)