Time Enough for Love

Rating:
Summary: A great read, and you can do it a little at a time
Review: This is really a fantastic book. It's not so much a novel but a collection of short stories that have an over-riding theme, that theme being love. The characters are vivid and alive, and the writing is fun, so reading it was never a chore. I read this book over a period of several months, taking it out every 2 weeks at the laundromat. Because of the short story progression of the novel, this worked great.

Rating:
Summary: A Reason for Living
Review: Way back at the beginning of Heinlein's writing career his editor at Astounding, John W. Campbell, published the 'Future History', a two page listing of Heinlein's projection of the significant individuals and scientific, economic, and political events of the next 700+ years, along with a list of story titles that brought each of these events to life. At that time, most of those stories hadn't been written, and from some of the notes and statements in interviews that Heinlein made in the fifties and sixties, it looked like some of those originally projected stories would never be written, most significantly the final entry, "Da Capo". Finally, in 1973, when everyone had given up hope, this book appeared, a book that put the finishing touches on the Future History, a book that closes with that final story.

But before reaching that final story, we are given a cornucopia of other stories, as Lazarus Long, now some 2300 years old, is induced to reminisce about his life as part of a complex deal to preserve the 'wisdom' of the oldest man alive. Each of the stories that Lazarus relates are fairly complete by themselves, and many authors would have chosen to publish each of them separately, but Heinlein chose to keep them all as one piece, as each story helps to illuminate his overriding theme, on just what is love in all of its myriad aspects and why it is so important to man's survival as a species.

The first of the tales, "The Man Who Was Too Lazy to Fail", may be the weakest of any of the stories, but for those who know something about Heinlein's life, this story is very clearly autobiographical in nature, with some changes in names and places to protect the innocent. "The Tale of the Twins Who Weren't" brings to light the ease with which Heinlein could switch between first and third person along with some detailed commentary on genetics and the reasons incest is normally consider taboo, all neatly folded into a story of individual growth from illiterate slave to successful entrepreneur.

But the next tale, "The Tale of the Adopted Daughter", is worth the price of this book all by itself. A very quiet, simple tale of pioneering that would not be out of place sitting on the Westerns shelf, though it has a unique science fictional aspect - but by the end of the story tears are definitely in order. The excellence of this story can be judged by the fact that its emotional impact is not lessened even on second, third, and fourth readings, even when you know exactly how it ends. This story does much to illustrate that love is far more than just sex, although there is certainly a lively interest in that oldest sport displayed by all participants here.

The outer story in which these stories are embedded like sparkling diamonds evolves from a pretty standard plot device for presenting back stories to an intriguing story of its own, as we follow the attempts of various and sundry to give Lazarus a reason for living again, to find some new experiences that are not just a rehash of things he has done a thousand times before.

But it is also this 'present' time story that leads to the objections that many people have with this book: its apparent near-obsession with sex between close relatives. In one case it is more than close, it is narcissistic, dealing with Lazarus' relations with twin female clones of himself. It seems that many see only the sex, and don't look beyond it to the larger picture that Heinlein is presenting of all forms of love, including some essentially platonic forms, and that all of them can provide a means for 'growing closer' with another and enriching the lives of all involved.

In-between these stories are the 'Notebooks', a collection of aphorisms and other 'pearls of wisdom' that Lazarus has supposedly collected during his long life. Many are humorous; just about all of them have a spike of truth curling through them. My favorite of this group is probably "A committee is a life form with six or more legs and no brain" or possibly "An elephant: a mouse built to government specifications" but everyone will probably find something here that is appealing.

The Notebooks are some succinct examples of something that Heinlein scatters throughout this book, his opinions on government, slavery, marriage, politics, revolutions, prisons, family organizations, the value of money, 'consciousness' both organic and computer based, betting, Darwinian selection, true 'intelligence', conscription, advertising, religion, the purpose of war, and just about every other subject you can imagine. While you may not agree with many of these opinions, Heinlein presents his views in such a way that you will be forced to at least examine why you believe your own opinions are correct.

And finally we come to the last section of the book, where Lazarus time-travels back to meet his parents in the Kansas City of 1916. Heinlein manages to create a beautiful image of that time and place, its moral codes, its hypocrisies, its charms, of an entire way of life that has just about totally vanished from the American scene. Few fictional histories approach this section for being able to put the reader into their chosen time frame.

This book is the capstone to the Future History, apparently planned at least in part when the History was first conceived, a remarkable achievement in scope, theme, and sheer story telling. It was nominated for the 1974 Hugo Award, and fully deserved that honor.

Rating:
Summary: Death is every mans privilege.
Review: The Howard Families Foundation was started in 1873 by the will of Ira Howard who wanted his money to be used to "prolong human life." It became a selective breeding program where individuals were paid to breed. Science later expanded on this to the point where these families were living hundreds of years making the most common form of death refusal of rejuvenation techniques. The non-Howard families tried to rest their longevity secrets from them forcing the families to flee the Earth and hide their presence by artificially aging themselves.

Time Enough For Love is the story of Lazarus Long, their ancient one a survivor of 23 Centuries, whom the Howard Families have captured from his death bed and forced a partial rejuvenation on in order to obtain his knowledge. Lazarus is tired and bored with living his most fervent wish is to die, to deny him this right is a violation of their law. The Chairman Pro Tem of Secundus, Ira Weatheral, through a series of discussions gets Lazarus to agree to a full rejuvenation and to tell his story. Lazarus in turn challenges Ira to find something new for him to experience.

The little historical notes throughout the memoirs of Lazarus Long add a sense of realism to the account. In many sections, parts are omitted with an exact word count of how much was removed like a government document obtained by the freedom of information act has blacked out sections. Heinlein proves that he was definitely an old soul in the idioms of wisdom attributed to his character Lazarus Long. Heinlein was a deep thinker and a true observer in a historian's sense as history always begs for hypothesis. He's able to see things most people take for granted in such a clear light with focused observations most would never even consider. Not only is this book entertaining but educational in a psychological, philosophical and historical manner. Time Enough for Love teaches that knowledge should never be lost even though man may go to the stars the skills of the past like farming with mules etc. will be needed for survival when homesteading a planet.

Though I liked the book, there are times when the story does drag along. After reading it, I find reincarnation far more appealing than living forever.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good, But Meanders Too Much At Times
Review: The Story: Lazarus Long is the oldest member of the Howard Families (a group of Earth-humans who have bred themselves to be long-lived) at over 2000 years old. He has decided that enough is enough and is letting himself waste away. His relatives find him, abduct him, and rejuvenate him against his will. Lazarus finally agrees to stay alive and write his memoirs, if they can find something entirely new for him to experience. Part of the book tells us about this search for something new, and part tells us some of Lazarus' more interesting memoirs.

Commentary: This book is in several parts. The first part, which is the least coherent and most rambling, tells of how Lazarus is found and persuaded to stay alive and give his memoirs. He creates a (VERY) unconventional new family, and is given two entirely new things to experience. This part of the book explores different ideas about social structure, family structure, and social mores in striking (and sometimes unsettling) but always thought-provoking ways. It is very disjointed, though. Another part relates Lazarus' one romantic relationship with an "ephemeral" (someone with a normal lifespan). This section is very coherent and fascinating. It also includes one of Heinlein's most memorable minor characters: Buck, the genetically altered, intelligent, talking mule (I want one!). Another section deals with Lazarus' trip back in time to re-meet his family of origin (including himself as a child) and the complications this leads to. This part is also coherent, flows rapidly, and is well-written.

Second Commentary: This is a very adult book. I did not figure out how old Heinlein was when he wrote this one, but there is an almost-juvenile fascination with sex permeating this entire book. There is also an exploration of sexual mores that basically shoots down all limits on sexual behavior, except sex-by-force and sex that results in genetically damaged children. Anything else is up for grabs (and does get grabbed). Not for children, and likely to be unsettling for some adults.

Rating:
Summary: not for the intellectually close minded
Review: if you are not capable of overcoming your own personal immaturities, and deeply ingrained cultural ideas of right and wrong, put this book back, it is not for you.

if you are open minded to ideas, not neccessarily the applications of them, but the ability for ideas to exist, then read on.

this is a remarkable and innovative book, which views the history of man, through glimpses of the history of one man: lazarus long.
this book travels through different worlds and lifes of this man, as detailed in a memoir style. heinlein jumps fluidly through different narrators, changing between first and third person with ease.
the chapters are not overly lengthy, and breaks occur frequently enough for a casual reader, although, i personally had trouble putting the book down.
if you are put off by some of the ideas presented in the book, you should take a look at john m. woolsey's decision regarding joyce's ulysses, where he presents the idea that when items or ideas of an obscene nature are presented purely for the reason of being obscene, that is obscenity, and when an author uses these obscene things as part of a building of a character, and part of a flowing narrative, the intent is not to be obscene. i would garner that this is the case with heinlein.
some of the ideas do not conform with our culture. they are not meant to, they are used to show the possibilities of a future timeline.

this is a wonderfully well written book, full of little twists and well reasoned logic. it is also quite humorous in places. especially in some of the notebook sections which serve as intermissions.

Rating:
Summary: A favorite book from a favorite author
Review: I have read and enjoyed science fiction since I was 12 years old. While I enjoy many authors, it was Robert Heinlein who got me hooked. I am now middle-aged and Heinlein is still my favorite author in the genre. He tells a good yarn and his central characters are likeable. I've just finished reading Time Enough for Love (TEFL) for probably the fourth or fifth time in the thirty something years since it was published-my first reading was in 1973.

Heinlein seems to take on three major tasks in this book.

First, like any good hard science fiction writer, he identifies two basic technological developments-interstellar space travel and rejuvenation through cloning and related biotechnology-and then imagines what impact these technologies might have on life over the next two thousand years.. He does this by focusing not on major battles and dramatic action but by focusing on his characters as they eat, bathe, tell stories, cuddle, cross the plains, build houses, and travel interstellar space. This is played out in the context of the shell story and the short stories that are nested within the shell.

The "sexual liberation" that is often made much of by reviewers is simply a logical playing out of culture mores impacted by the basic technological changes given as a premise in the story. Compared to how sex is handled in the media today, Heinlein's presentation is relatively innocent.

Second, he explores the nature of love. What is it when two beings love each other? Heinlein provides a broad canvas with so long a book and explores many types of relationship. The common characteristic is that each relationship expresses a different variety of love-marital love, love of a parent for one's children, friendship among "peers", of a child for one's parent, of a sentient computer for a human, of humans for a sentient computer. While there is some preaching on the topic, the exploration is played out in the various stories of the book as we see the relationships unfold.

Heinlein seems to have written in the context of several parallel universes (as is made clear in his book "Number of the Beast"). His best developed universe is his "Future History" which underlies many of his earlier short stories and a few of his novels. Heinlein's third major task in this book appears to be a further fleshing out of his future history, which was developed in any detail only as far as the persecution of the Howard Family and their flight from Earth (Methuselah's Children). In TEFL he carries the tale forward 2000 years and fills in some of the gaps. The majority of his works from this book forward build on this foundation and continue to play with the concepts he highlights in TEFL.

Of course, there is an ample dose of Heinlein's political theories and his fetish with cleanliness, which make an appearance in almost all of his longer works. One commentator noted an oedipal theme running through many of Heinlein's works. Here Heinlein's oedipal complex bursts forth in full glory for no one to miss or mistake.

Heinlein's works can be grouped into four broad categories: early short stories, juvenile novels (Have Spaceship, Will Travel, etc.), adult adventure novels (Puppet Masters, Starship Troopers, etc.), and adult speculative novels (TEFL, etc.). The adult adventure novels are largely hormone driven space operas. They are fun to read and easily converted into movies. My favorite books however are his speculative novels. There is relatively little outright adventure common to the earlier works but they are highly imaginative and do a wonderful job of playing around with ideas. He makes the most fanciful ideas almost believable. He gives us the opportunity to stand apart from our cultural assumptions and see what they look like from the outside.

TEFL is among my all time favorite Heinlein books.

Rating:
Summary: Might impress an adolescent boy
Review: I recall hearing somewhere that the "golden age" of science fiction wasn't during some decade in the middle of the 20th Century. The "golden age" is more like about 12. Science fiction is generally written for an immature, mostly male readership, and Heinlein's novels provide the best illustration of this fact.

While other reviewers draw attention to the allegedly sexually radical aspects of _Time Enough for Love_ (which seem pretty tame in the age of Jerry Springer, Internet porn and "Girls Gone Wild" videos advertised on television), I'm struck by just how little verisimilitude this novel displays. Heinlein made most of it out of his own imagination, and it amuses me that people who seem to lack a sense of irony read all sorts of "wisdom" into Heinlein's sex- and Social-Darwinist power fantasies.

I'm not holding it against Heinlein that he didn't live for centuries, fly on spaceships, break the sod on other planets or travel backwards in time. How could he have? That's why it's called "science fiction."

But I do find it odd that Heinlein set himself up as an authority about all sorts of things he knew nothing about from his own experience. Keep in mind that he had to take up writing as a career because his chronic ill health kept him from pursuing the active life he would have preferred. (Contrast Heinlein with his contemporary Ernest Hemingway, who did engage in the kinds of dangerous physical experiences he was able to incorporate into his fiction.) To the best of my knowledge, Heinlein never killed anyone, had children, fought in a war or lived in a group marriage. That didn't stop him from writing about such activities as if he had actually done them, but these aspects of his novels seem to me like the fantasies of a physically frustrated man. Heinlein's emphasis on the importance of baby-making seems especially curious in light of his simultaneous belief in Malthusian catastrophes.

Reading a Heinlein novel is usually a better way to pass your time than watching television, but I wouldn't confuse his characters' curmudgeonly philosophies with advice that could work in the real world.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic and thought provoking
Review: This was probably one of the best Heinlein books I have ever read... If you are interested in the ramblings of a 2000 year old man who had many adventures and exciting tales to convey than this is the book to read.. At first I was skeptical to pick it up because it is such a copious book... I thought it should have been titled "time enough to read" but after catching a cold and missing several days of work I finally relented and gave it a shot.. And all I can say is that was the best thing I could have ever done.. Lazarus Long is a very interesting and unique individual... On the outside he appears rude, obnoxious, cantankerous, disrespectful and arrogant.. But as you read on and learn more about the enigmatic Lazarus Long you start to see that he is much more... He is warm, loving, compassionate and zestful with a propensity for living life to the fullest.. This book although it isn't hard core science fiction it does however catch the heart of the reader... It explores the human spirit and gives a good hypothetical look as to the way Heinlein sees humanity today and in the future... Another important lesson which Heinlein incorporates in a subtle way is that elderly people should be honored and revered..This is something we don't do in our society since Americans are so apt about sending our old people into nursing homes...

Rating:
Summary: Best sci-fi book I've read
Review: Time Enough for Love was an addicting read. I found myself unable to put it down; I neglected my studies and took it to work to read at lunchtime. Time travel, immortality, free love... what more could you want? Lazarus Long is by far the most intriguing and engaging character I've come across in... well, I can't remember how long. We simulaneously know his life history and his most intimate relationships, and yet we feel that we have only began to understand him. This may not be the book for those sci-fi readers who like Star-Trek looking creatures, or lots of carnage caused by large technologically advanced weapons; however, if you're looking for a novel that has real character, this is it.

Rating:
Summary: A Disappointment
Review: I've enjoyed other RAH works, especially Starship Troopers. But this book is really quite boring, and I had to stop reading about 1/3 of the way through. It's really disappointing, considering the concept is so interesting and influential.