I don't search out author biographies but happened to pick this one up at a library sale. Heinlein has been my favorite author forever but this book was a big disappointment. It was edited by his wife after he was dead so I must assume that she is the one who messed it up. It is like he left a box of letters (mostly to his agent) that he was saving for his memoirs, his wife tripped and scattered them all over the place and then published them in the order that she picked them up off the floor. In Heinlein's letters outlining plans for this book he states that he will include various anecdotes in the book but his wife blithely leaves us with notes like "Robert never did tell me what the crisis with Japan was about." Heinlein also says that he will name names but acknowledges that his wife will decide after his death if they will stay and names are blanked out in many places for no apparent reason. The book could hardly have been a tell-all in any case since it was edited by his 3rd wife, Virginia, who he met before his 2nd marriage broke up and married immediately after. It doesn't take much reading-between-the-lines to know that something interesting was omitted. There is a lot of beating around the bush with vague references to his illnesses scattered throughout the book. If they were such a big part of his life, then explain them to us in a page; if they weren't then explain them to us in a paragraph, but explain!Even though they were tied together so very badly, at least the letters were in Heinlein's own words and were somewhat revealing. It is sad that Heinlein never came to terms with the fact that he had so many fans. The downside of selling thousands of books to schools and libraries was that thousands of school children wrote him letters that he felt compelled to answer individually and personally. His attempts to hire minions failed because micromanaging minions took even more time than answering the letters himself. The thing that I do like about the book is the front cover illustration but I have a feeling that something is being concealed from us there, too.
This is not a collection of short stories published posthumously, as I thought when I bought it. It is, instead, a collection of letters and excerpts from letters written by Heinlein or sent to Heinlein (or, in a few cases, by and to his wife). This allows for a peek into the world behind the scenes: Heinlein's complaints to his agent about difficult publishers; his early working relationship and friendship with John Campbell, that fell apart during World War II; his efforts to handle fan mail, with the comment that a colleague actually had to beg his readers to send him feedback; his trouble building his houses; trip reports; discussions with his agent on contracts being negotiated; his trouble with unannounced house guests; etc.And Heinlein shines through it all. He wasn't perfect (he asked his editor to explain to somebody that he was "a son of a bitch"), but I believe we're all friends with people like him. One of the reasons he had trouble with fan mail an unannounced house guests is that, although fans ate into his time, and although he repeatedly answered the same questions over the course of his career, he did his best to treat his fans well, even when he had to explain that he could either spend his days interacting with fans or writing books, but that there wasn't enough time to do both.
This book contains correspondence between Heinlein and his literary agent, mostly, plus a few assorted letters to and from other people. Also has photographs of Heinlein during several periods of his life, along with his wife, Ginny, and the tribe of cats they kept.It provides valuable insight into RAH's way of thinking, his life in general, and the things that troubled and worried him. I can sympathize with one of his recurring concerns, that the USA is in a tailspin due to the increasing ignorance and lack of any proper foundation in science, sociology or plain common sense in my fellow citizens. This troubled Heinlein very much and in his own particular way, he made it a background theme in most of his later stories. I'm troubled by it, too, but I don't feel as emotionally involved. I don't have RAH's need to turn the tide and be a part of the solution. I am content to be a spectator, albeit a sarcastic and opinionated one.Overall a good read, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone except those already well-versed in Heinlein's work. Anyone else would probably be bored to tears.
—Andres
This book contains numerous letters by Heinlein, or at least substantial excerpts from his letters. What struck me as very interesting, however, is the letters it did not include. Nine out of every ten letters seemed to be from Heinlein to his agent or editor. There were very few letters to him (by said agents or editors), and very few letters by his third wife Virginia. All letters were in some way on the subject of writing, with brief forays into the subjects of cats, housebuilding, travel, and politics. If the book's intent was to cover Heinlein's letters on his writing process, then I'm not sure why there were occasional letters on cats, housebuilding, travel, and politics. If the book was intended to cover a broad range of Heinlein's interests, then there are too few letters on cats, housebuilding, politics, travel, and other topics. I don't recall a single letter to friends, family, or wives one or two. There is a brief mention of the emotional impact of a divorce, but only in the context of how it affected Heinlein's writing.It was genuinely an interesting book, and I enjoyed reading it. I gave this book three stars mostly because reading letters--however well written--is not exactly Great Fun.
—Suzanne
I found this gem in my favorite used book shop, BARBED WIRE BOOKS in Longmont, Co. As a fan of Heinlein since high school, it immediately went to the top of my reading list. Although I was familiar with his life story, it was fascinating to see his fights to have science fiction (which he called speculative fiction) accepted as quality literature as well as his fights to keep the text of his novels and stories intact. Reading about how he wanted to write about real issues in his 'Juveniles', you can see that he cleared the way for the quality Young Adult (YA) literature like DIVERSITY and HUNGER GAMES.Fans of STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND will find an entire chapter dedicated to correspondence about the book.My only regret is that he did not talk more about my favorite Heinlein novel (I have read numerous times and teach in one of my courses) STARSHIP TROOPERS.
—Mike Kanner
