Expanded Universe

When all is said and done, you can't help respecting Robert Heinlein. The man knew what he wanted to say, and by jiminy he went out there and said it... This book, along with "Grumbles from the Grave," probably cleaves closer to the heart of Heinlein's spirit than any three of his other books combined. It is a collection of short pieces: some nonfiction articles; others, slightly fictionalized accounts of very real political concerns. My favorite piece is "Solution Unsatisfactory," which was one of the earliest pieces in science fiction to deal so intelligently with the threat of nuclear war. Heinlein also includes a few accounts of trips that he and his wife made to the Soviet Union. They really tried hard to be open-eyed, open-minded observers of everything they saw. Things have changed in Russia since they were there, but it's worth reading just to sate one's appetite for Heinlein's distinctive voice. (For anyone interested in more up-to-date accounts of Russia, read anything by David Shipler.) Heinlein's time at Annapolis shows through in many of these pieces, as it does in virtually everything else he wrote. He seemed to have a very, very clear sense of America as a "country," or even as a "nation," as opposed to a "society." What I mean by this is that many of these pieces reflect a powerful understanding of the fundamental reality that America is a MILITARY entity, apart from being an economic juggernaut and a staunch promoter, on the international scene, of youth culture and our entertainment-based value system. Heinlein's military and political understanding is a disturbing one, but it is more securely grounded in serious, military realities than that of most authors writing today.The pre-eminent concern in "Expanded Universe" is the threat of nuclear war. Heinlein, as anyone familiar with his writings will know, wrote firmly out of the Cold War tradition. "Solution Unsatisfactory" is the best example of this kind of thinking in this volume. Personally, I'd like to interject, I see absolutely no correlation whatsoever between the end of the Cold War and any putative decrease in the threat to mankind posed by nuclear weapons. I, for one, couldn't care less whether the dude aiming MIRV missiles at my kitchen speaks Russian, Arabic, Chinese, or, heck, even Navajo -- the point is that armed conflict will always exist, and now that nuclear weapons exist too, the clock is frankly ticking away the last seconds/hours/days/years/decades (decades? Let's hope so...) on mankind's time remaining on Earth. For anyone who is genuinely disturbed by Heinlein's ideas, I want to make a few recommendations. Try to find a copy of "Nuclear Shelterist," by Walton McCarthy. It's out of print right now, but it's obviously worth trying to track down. Ask your friendly local librarian for help in finding it. Also -- if you can locate a copy of the British movie "Threads," you should see it. It's extremely frightening and graphic -- do NOT wat

If you are a hard-core devotee of Robert A. Heinlein's literature (not a casual fan, or someone who thought that Stranger In A Strange Land was "pretty cool") then your bookshelf is essentially empty without this book. Out of the nearly 30 works collected in this volume, none are without merit. It starts out with Life-Line, as any RAH retrospective must, and also includes such early classics as Solution Unsatisfactory and Blowups Happen. However, the majority of the book are far lesser known works. Among these, those of note include a trio of non-fiction (and a couple of fictional) articles on the atomic bomb and it's consequences that Heinlein wrote after WWII. Other interesting stories include two chronicles of the Heinleins' trip to the USSR. Also of note are the predictions that RAH made for the future, and his rants on such subjects as education, politics, and religion. However, the part of the book that I enjoyed most were the forewards and afterwards that are strewn throughout the book. They often reveal a lot about the author's character (perhaps more than he intended) and occasionally show fascinating insights. Overall, I found the book to be very entertaining, funny (at times), and written in Heinlein's typical witty prose (even the non-fiction.) Absolutely essential for any major fan of the Dean's work.

This is an superior collection of fiction and non-fiction. Two fiction and two non-fiction pieces deserve note."Solution Unsatisfactory" is probably the finest piece of prophecy in science fiction. The story, written in 1940, predicts the ending of WW II by the use of an atomic weapon and the start of a nuclear standoff shortly thereafter. He get the details wrong of course, the atomic weapon is radiated dust, the city Berlin, and the cold war is between Germany and the United States, but the foresight is uncanny."Blowups Happen", also written in 1940, shows the tension of working in a nuclear power plant and what happens when an accident happens. Any similarity between this story and three-mile island is purely coincidental.I gave this book to a friend who had never read any science fiction and after reading it, she swore Heinlein was a time-traveler.The two nonfiction pieces, "PRAVDA means TRUTH" and "Inside Intourist". Both pieces are taken from a trip Heinlein and his wife took to the Soviet Union in 1960. Heinlein's observations about life in the Soviet Union at that time are both entertaining and enlightening.

Yet another work of art from Heinlein himself. I've read some other novels by him (Starship Troopers, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, Red Planet) and this one is great! It's like driving through the brain of a mental patiant. With great works of sci fi and old stories.. It's fun to read over and over again.