Time Enough For Love

[Matt Burnham]

Anyone read this Heinlein classic? I've never read it but I always though that it had one of the best titles of any book.

 

[manephelien]

Yeah, I have. It ties up some things from his other alternate history books quite nicely.

 

[j d worthington]

Indeed it does; it is (or was, until he extended the connections further with his later books) the capstone of the series. It has its weaknesses, but nonetheless it remains a personal favorite for several reasons -- one of which is that my impression of the book and its emphasis changes with each reading. In other words, it's a seemingly fairly simple book which is actually complex in its dealing with many themes....

 

[Pyan]

One of my favourites, too - and it contains what, in my opinion, is the best story he ever wrote - The Tale of the Adopted Daughter,one of the few stories to bring a lump to my throat at the end, even on the umpteenth reading.

 

[cape_royds]

My own favourite part was "The Man who was Too Lazy to Fail."

 

[Urlik]

I love the 2 chapters of quotable quotes

 

[steve12553]

It's been a few years for me but I have fond memories of this book, also. I went through a period of time a decade or so ago where I read either most or all of his future history.

 

[ebusinesstutor]

Fantastic book that had a huge impact on me when I first read it. My favorite Heinlein book.

 

[ghost8772]

(20,000 words omitted) that stuff had me laughing too hard to read when I figured out I had read it.

I did like the story, a combination of flashbacks woven into story, and the interludes, that were attributed as being from "The notebooks of Lazarus Long" which I found someone had published years later... maybe I can find my copy around somewhere.

 

[Fried Egg]

I saw this in the second hand store but put it back on the shelf when I saw how big it was. Meaty tome this one, isn't it?

 

[j d worthington]

It is, but it is several different types of stories at once; to put it simply, it is basically done on the model of the Arabian Nights, so you have quite a potpourri, from the straightforward sf adventure to pensive, thoughtful mood-pieces, to political stories to time-travel... not to mention some genuine slapstick along the way.....

 

[chrispenycate]

It has serious faults; self-indulgent, moralising, loose writing; you almost get the feeling that RAH, after having to prune his words down to an absolute minimum for so many years rather let his discipline slip.

But I do notice that, after my years of travelling, and having to dump loads of literature at each move, that book is still in my shelves.

 

[paranorman]

I'm reading this book now and it does make me feel a bit uncomfortable. In its depiction of the female characters and of sexual relationships, it feels dated (which I accept it is!) and a little bit grubby. I'm feeling like the author has exposed me to some of his sexual fantasies... I do understand that there is more to the book than that (which may indeed be the result of 60-something year old man writing in the 1970s), but at the moment it's spoiling it for me! Does anyone else feel the same?

 

[Connavar]

It shouldnt spoil. I was reading recently a foreward with RAH saying HG Wells classic SFs was hoplessly dated but still the best SF around in his view.

I feel the same about RAH stories, his views on certain things might be dated but storytelling,ideas wise he is timeless.

If you cant get over his old fashioned view on females then you wont like his stories.

Thats really a small matter its not like he lived in the same days as us.

 

[jubalharshaw]

I love Time Enough For Love. I've read it many times, and never really thought about RAH and his fantasies. I always read it as RAH creating a world that didn't have the sexual hang-ups that ours does.

If a man lived thousands of years, got bored with it all, went back in time, met his own mother...if you're the author with that plot in your head, where would you go from there? What hang-ups would your Woodrow have?

From around 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' on, I think that's where RAH really began to fly.

 

[thesoothsayer]

I liked it, especially the format and the collection of short stories, although I do get the feeling that most of his characters are reincarnated from one book to another. I think of myself as rather liberal, but some of the ideas on sexual relationship raised in TEFL did make me think.

 

[surr]

what are his book politicly ? sombody did said they was going to build a island based on this book...

 

[ghost8772]

what are his book politicly ? sombody did said they was going to build a island based on this book...

...........

if that's so, I'm in.

 

[Hober Mallow]

I have yet to read TEFL. So far, I've only read three Heinlein novels: Starship Troopers, Revolt in 2100 (actually 3 stories), and Stranger in a Strange Land. I didn't like Starship Troopers because of its didactic style, promoting corporal punishment and other unsavory ideas. I wanted to read TEFL next, but I was told I should read Methuselah's Children first.

Other's I want to read: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Friday, The Puppet Masters.

 

[Clunker]

I have read almost all of Heinlein's books -- many of them twice or even more often -- and the three that affected me most were Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough for Love and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. The others all affected me as well -- I didn't always agree with what RAH wrote, but he never failed to entertain. The recent biography of Heinlein shows how his belief in having multiple sexual partners was reflected in so many of his later, adult, novels, including Time Enough for Love. By the way, Number of the Beast, a wild romp through multiple universes, ties his Future History together with a number of his other, previously unrelated books, and may send you back to earlier books to spend more time with old friends.