Re: Robert Heinlein

[PufPuf23]

8. I am re-reading Stranger in a Strange Land now

Only read Stranger..., Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Starship Troopers and long ago (hs or early university).

What prompted me to pick up Stranger in a A Strange Land now was the discovery that the original publican had been edited of 60,000 words and the full version had been available for over 20 years.

"Heinlein got the idea for the novel when he and his wife Virginia were brainstorming one evening in 1948. She suggested a new version of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894), but with a child raised by Martians instead of wolves. He decided to go further with the idea and worked on the story on and off for more than a decade.[3] His editors at Putnam then required him to cut its 220,000-word length down to 160,067 words before publication. In 1962, it received the Hugo Award for Best Novel.[4]

In 1991, three years after Heinlein's death, Virginia arranged to have the original uncut manuscript published. Critics disagree[5] about which is superior. Heinlein preferred the original manuscript and described the heavily edited version as telegraphese.[6]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land

About 60 pages in the narrative is smooth reading. Heinlein foresaw the microwave oven (aside).