I reread Heinlein’s work every few years if only because I love his writing and story telling style so much. This is maybe my third or fourth reread of the Lazarus Long novels, which include the “The Past Through Tomorrow” collection of shorter works “Future History” stories, published or written between the late 30’s and the late fifties. “Time Enough for Love” 1973 was a new phase in Heinlein’s career, which was also a return to his roots. It is a sort of sequel to his 1940 story, “Methuselah’s Children”. Here Heinlein plants the seeds for his World of Myth novels. By this time, Heinlein has been completely free to write and publish whatever he wanted and however he wanted to present it. He has odd non-conventional ideas on custom, norms, taboo and such which he has dedicated much of his writing to for most of the second half of his writing career. Much of this I can not subscribe to or find distasteful yet I do understand completely that in future times, ideas on custom, norms, taboo and such that are not conventional presently may be of no concern or even the norm in later times. Look backwards a hundred years or a thousand and you will certainly agree.

This is broken down in linked shorter stories as being a memoir in a sense told by 2000 plus year old Lazarus Long. These tails/ yarns are told in a foggy fashion - mixed truth and fabrication, which is how such tails are usually recalled by our elders.

Though disturbing at times, if one can get over or reluctantly accept some of the few (often regretful) cringeworthy elements of this individual’s personal ideas, this novel is classic sci-fi of its time.

I have read and re-read Heinlein’s work with pleasure and was looking forward to more of the same. To say I am disappointed is an understatement.
Time Enough for Love is a collection of short pieces cobbled together in a single volume, framed as an attempt on the part of the main character to describe to a computer the difference between agape and eros.
Instead of the great and tragic love story of a man trapped by his inheritance in a world where love loses all meaning, the volume descends from merely boring to downright offensive. Dirty old man might have covered it, but there is an element of sadism that is disturbing.
I think I was hoping for an intelligent exploration of one of humanity’s greatest mysteries from someone whose writing is, and intellect should have been, up to the challenge. But, after Chapter XII, there is nothing worth reading, just an unending repetition of immoral, testosterone-driven, adolescent fantasy. As I said, a disappointment.

At times it reminded me my recent read of "The end of eternity", though here the protagonist did not need much of tinkering to the time stream as is the old saying of staying by the river and watching the world pass by. This book is a collection of stories, some referencing to other books of the author. Each story deals with a different familial structure of personal relationship to examine. personally for me some of the tales seemed a bit overly prolonged for my liking and some outdated notions that detracted from my experience, though it did have some amusing and insightful pearls along the way.

This was the only Heinlein book we were banned from reading when we were kids because it made such a convincing argument for sex outside of marriage or any other social construct.

This is also one of the best love stories of all time. Go Dora!

Time Enough for Incest

How many incestuous impregnation fantasies can you fit into one book?
You could be a clone with genetic material combined from 23 humans, and coyly tell one of them he's your 'father' while propositioning him.
You could genetically manipulate two full siblings so that they don't have overlapping genetic material and raise them as a 'breeding pair'.
You could adopt a child, raise her, and then she demands that you 'give her a baby' before you leave town, so instead you marry and impregnate her on the spot.
Crowning achievement: impregnating twin redheads who are simultaneously his sisters and his daughters.
And then right at the end they invent time travel so his mother can enthusiastically seduce him (it's okay though, because she was already pregnant).

I feel like I've been given a very public tour through Heinlein's masturbatory fantasies.

I've read this before, so neither the incest nor the patronizing misogyny surprised me, but I think it gets more egregious every time. Yes, Heinlein is poking holes in the morals of his time, but I can think of some reasons besides genetics why sleeping with children you've raised is unethical. This time I think it was him advocating for summarily murdering 'defective' infants the moment they're born that I found most disturbing.

Interesting ideas, but it's a little to arrogantly preachy even for Heinlein. Interesting concepts, but he's so wrong on some things that it doesn't help his well-made points. Honestly, I gave up on it before he does the time travel thing where (I read on wikipedia) he has an affair with his mom. I don't care if you're 3 millenia old, Oedipus, that's weird.

This is one of those books I re-read every so often because I have such fond memories of it. Its the story of a man who has lived since the the middle of the 20th century into the far future and is a chronicle of his life in short story form. Each story is a parable about life and how to be a survivor and enjoy yourself along the way. This book has been the source of many quotes but this one sums it up for me.

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. "
-LAZARUS LONG

This is one of his pivotal books. Until the 60s, he was quite constrained by what he could write by contracts (e.g., Scribner Juveniles) & editors. After his big hit with Stranger in a Strange Land & several others, his popularity grew & the reins slipped off. In 1970, he had a close brush with death, was desperate to publish what he wanted without restraint, & did so. The result was I Will Fear No Evil, his descent into wordiness & weird sex. This book followed a few years later. The Number of the Beast used this one to take the idea of multiple universes further which then allowed him to tie all his characters & stories together. Yuck.

Lazarus Long, the main character of this book, is a great character in a lot of ways. I first recall reading about him in Methuselah's Children. He's one of the early Howard family members & a sport who manages to survive long enough to become pretty much immortal. Now he's 3000 years old & tired of life, but the families don't want to let him go due to his wealth of knowledge & experience. Interesting & horrifying on different levels which Heinlein uses as the vehicle to explore a lot of subjects in this brick of a book.

Lazarus frequently lapses into recollections that are novellas. Interludes explore a variety of other subjects such as what love is, how people & attitudes have changed, & sometimes just a few pages of saucy sayings. (I think the sayings are also published as The Notebooks of Lazarus Long, same things, just a way to grab more money.) A lot of it is interesting, but be prepared to skim other parts. He gets very wordy as Lazarus (Heinlein) expounds on certain ideas.

Unfortunately, he descends into exploring sex, not a topic that he handles well. The free love isn't bad, but he did it better & more thoroughly in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Transgender & homosexuality issues were OK in their time, but now they're common place & his handling was rather clumsy. The worst was the age of consent & promotion of incest. These are social attitudes that are certainly valid to explore, but he manages to turn me off completely. Heinlein doesn't seem to understand kids at all. Unsurprising since he never had any. There's a huge disconnect between their intelligence & emotional maturity which he completely ignores. Age of consent varies a lot depending on the culture, in part because of how the society educates & shapes expectations.

I wonder if he didn't harbor a streak of pedophilia. I read The Door Into Summer not long ago & the romance creeped me out even though Dan at least waited until Ricki grew up. Still, there are a lot of older men bopping young girls in his books. In Farnham's Freehold, Hugh is bopping his daughter's friend Barbara. After 1970, practically every book is full of it. Younger men (men, not boys) having sex with older women isn't uncommon in his books, but that's consenting adults, IMO. The girls are often barely at or below what I'd consider mature enough levels.

As for incest, he's just weird. I don't understand his fascination at all. As a mental exercise & exploring such a forbidden topic, his friend Theodore Sturgeon (who belonged to the same nudist colony) did a much better job in the short story "If All Men Were Brothers Would You Let Your Sister Marry One?" Heinlein is just crass about it, but then what passed for his sex scenes were always awful.

Maybe I'm just being provincial, but I can't think of anything that turns me on less than the thought of having sex with my daughter or mother. There's some scientific thought that this is actually hardwired into us.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/art...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incest_...

Anyway, if you're a fan of Heinlein, read this book, but do it as text so you can skim at times. It has a lot of great stuff, but a lot of dreck, too.

I have not felt this conflicted about a book possibly ever. I want to give it one star but also five stars.

I hated Lazarus throughout the whole book, the incest stuff went way to far (i cannot believe how far) and the female characters only existed to have babies or propose to Lazarus.

But also it was super interesting! I enjoyed going through his whole life's story like that. And the characters felt so real I feel like I really got to know them. I also just overall enjoyed the writing style.

Overall, I'm glad I read it but I'm also glad it's over with.

(edit to add: the books description on Goodreads doesn't feel very accurate at all???)

There’s no virtue in being old, it just takes a long time.

Time Enough for Love is a recounting of Lazarus Long's extremely long life (thanks, science), full of the wisdom and perspective gained in a less ephemeral life.

The story is divided up in a number of shorter stories of Long's life. Most of them are rather interesting, at least in the first half of the book.

This might be one of the most quotable sci-fi books of all time, though some of the chapters are virtually tailored to that ("Excerpts from the Notebooks of Lazarus Long"). The in-your-face, rapidfire wisdom is much like that found in Matt Haig's writings, especially, The Humans. A few excerpts sound like the perspectives of someone who has lived for millenia, and others sound like that of any grouchy old man.

As a special note, you had better have at least a slight love for incest in order to enjoy this book, as it's got more of it than a Luke Bryan concert. If you occasionally find yourself searching for those, what are you doing stepbrother videos, as we all do, Time Enough for Love is going to sit nicely with you.

I find the concept of living for thousands of years a fun idea to explore, and Heinlein does it justice for the first half of the book. However, it slowly transitions from fresh and innovative to a dull drama (with plenty of incest and polyamory) devoid of any sci-fi. If you can tolerate the last half, the first half is a worthwhile read. Much like the life of Lazarus Long, this book takes a long time to finish, so prepare yourself for the journey.

I'd been looking out for this one ever since I saw it new in the KL super-bookshop several months back. A few days ago I got it in exchange for AK from the American girl in my Kathmandu hotel. Unfortunately, as I read the first few pages I realised I’d made a terrible mistake. Lazarus Long, the main character from Methuselah's Children, is, inexplicably, 2000 years old and living on a distant planet. The leader of this planet has foolishly asked the rambling old man to tell him random and stupid stories from his past, giving the lecherous bore an excuse to waffle on ad nauseum for the next, literally, 600 pages - way way way too long. And what a fruitcake this dude is! He seems to spend most of his life adopting baby girls and then sleeping with them once they reach puberty. Written in 1973, the book is full of the "Shut up woman or I'll paddle your fanny" seventies sentiment, as well as being a vehicle for Heinlein's obsession with nudity and cats. Its only saving graces are his amusingly outrageous aphorisms and a readable last 100 pages - where he goes back in time to WWI... and sleeps with his own mother (there is a LOT of incest in this book). At least it counteracted the signs on many of the Nepali buses I see here: 'No time for love'.

Had a slow start for me when world building, because of the insane amount of math thrown at me; I started to appreciate it more and more as the story went on.

In true Heinlein fashion, we are faced with a person in an extraordinarily unique circumstance, and what does he do? Why, start a cult of course!

And I'll tell ya, at the end of this I was willing to join it, too. Sign me up to be Lazarus Long's main bitch.