Rating: 
Summary: I hope I'm still alive when rejuv tech is developed
Review: TEfL is a very good book written by a great author. I debated giving it 5 stars because I have read other books (Stranger in a Strange Land, Atlas Shrugged, and a few others) which I consider a head above this book. Perhaps if the scale were to 100 I'd give this a 90 and the other two I mentioned a 100. I say this only because I found the book JUST A TOUCH boring at times (and highly enticing the rest of the time). As to the ideas he discusses (sex, society, love, life), I'd say Heinlein is dead on in just about all cases. If anyone would like to discuss any of these issues further, feel free to e-mail me. I would treat any discussion of these ideas with great vigor and dedication. I am a philosophy major (the rigorous analytic kind, not the poetic, fluty language continental kind)at Western Washington University, and I am interested in knowing the right answers, not sticking to societal dogmas (although perhaps some of those dogmas possess good content and so should be adhered to). So, write me if you want to discuss and argue.
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Summary: Time Enough for Incest
Review: Geez, this author has some ISSUES....I bought the book because of the interesting theme (a man who's lived for thousands of years), but quickly became tired by the bombastic, Father-Knows-Best/Mike Brady voice of the main character, and by Heinlein's typical choice to preach instead of writing. But the most bizarre thing about this book is the thinly-disguised confession by the author that he wants to have sex with his relatives, especially his young daughters. It doesn't take a degree in psychoanalysis to see that the strongest motif -- nubile young offspring offering themselves sexually to their father/surrogate father/grandpa/ancestor -- is some kind of bizarre confession by the author about his own outre' sexual orientation. After the initial shock this of perversity, the novelty wears off, and he just sounds like a dirty old man projecting his lust onto his victims. Complementing the kinky sex is some kinky violence, by a guy who has a hard time hiding how much he gets off on killing people who mess with him. But look on the bright side -- Robert Heinlein (probably) wasn't YOUR dad!
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Summary: First time with Heinlein, probably the last...
Review: I'm sorry to say that I was really quite disappointed with Heinlein, and sufficiently so that it'll be a while before I pick him up again. This book had some interesting parts to it, and started off in a fairly promising vein, but it quickly degenerated into a series of immensely repetitive fables. Clearly Heinlein had a lifestyle message to pass on (lots of sex, little government, and don't-you-try-to-tell-me-how-to-live), but it all gets lost somewhere in the middle of his extended lesson on genetic matching, which goes on for pages, believe it or not. And frankly, I'm an open-minded guy, but the excessive amounts of incest were utterly pointless, tasteless, and more than a little immature. I don't know why others felt that the philosophies of Lazarus Long were so compelling - it's all just boils down to a handful of self-evident axioms, none of which should be inspiring awe, much less the paradigm shifts claimed by the new adherants. All in all, disappointing - it makes me wonder about Heinlein's revered status in the sci-fi community.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding;vintage Heinlein
Review: Lazarus Long was a rogue,a warrior,father,lover,mentor,judge,jury and executioner if the need arose. In short the type of man every adventurous boy wishes to grow up be! Excellent reading,captivating,humourous,and at times deeply touching.Recomended for any lover of good science fiction!!
Rating: 
Summary: Too long and boring in parts
Review: In this book heinlein manages to put in some interesting and touching stories but is infected with heinlein's usual faults including superficial chracters especially amongst the female characters. After reading this book and others that include lazarus long one have to ask why the oldest man alive turn out to be such a disapointment. instead of acquiring what you would call wisdom of life he is full of small talk and petty advises about how to live. like other books heinlein wrote such as "I will fear no evil" the book assumes that sex is the only thing in life or almost all of it and that a stable society is impossible. Besides that I would like to comment to heinlein that while he may know something about writing his views on evolution are untrue and don't resemble it even remotely. Like other people heinlein believes that evolution occur on humanity the same way it does on animals but in fact civilization crued as it may be prevent such things from happening and crises such as war do not promote natural selection as he may think. since the invention of weapons that kill from afar (such as guns and bows) strengh and other personal abilities do not save the lives of the the wariors (for example some of the best men in Europe and other lands were killed during War-War 1. to conclude, though this book has its points I wouldn't say he is perfect or even near it. It is a shame to see how great ideas turn into mediocre books or at most almost but not good books such as this one under the hands of heinlein(with the exception of "Stranger in a strange land")
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Summary: Heinlen's Lazaus Long defiened.
Review: This was one of Heinlen's more fun books. It really fills out the character established in Methusalah's Children. It reflects many of Heinlein's opinions on sociology and human interaction. For a man of his day, he had remarkably radical ideas about how society could, should and does work. Reflects ideas of many "Utopian" authors. I especeally enjoy the "notebooks of Lazarus Long".
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Summary: I loved this tale! Lazarus is a legendary figure to emulate
Review: This book teaches you how to value the time you have in your life. I have read it more than five times, and savor it each time. The stories of Dora and Maureen are the best. The best time travel book ever written to date. Written by the master of the future history genre!
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Summary: spell binding for Long fans
Review: There are those of us who put to use much of the advise bestowed to by the grand-master. Most of it comes from the tales of Lazurus Long. But the adivice is secondary only to the sagas of lazurus, you will understand why they called him the grand master
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Summary: Not for everyone, but one of the greatest books ever
Review: This book is tied with THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS for my all-time favorite book. Heinlein is by far my favorite author, and these two books are a couple of his best. This is not a good book for someone to start out reading Heinlein on, but if you are already a fan, try this out. This book is an incredible tale of a portion of the life of the oldest human bein, Lazurus. The story is about life and love and death and aging. You will not be the same after reading this book.
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Summary: The Keystone of Heinlein's Multiverse
Review: Remember Mel Brooks' 2,000-year-old man schtick? He complained once that he had 42,000 children--and no one came to visit. Such is not the case with Robert Heinlein's 2,000-year-old man, Lazarus Long. Almost everyone he meets is descended from him--and many of them care for him very deeply indeed. When Long checks into a flophouse on the planet Tellus Secundus under an assumed name, wishing to die at last, his children find and sequester him in an attempt to persuade him to keep on living. It is this search for something to live for that occupies humanity's oldest representative throughout the rest of Time Enough for Love. Lazarus Long is perhaps Heinlein's most popular character with fans. He made his first literary appearance in the 1940s, in the novella Methuselah's Children, which told the tale of the founding, persecution and diaspora of the Howard Families--a group of people artificially selected for their gene! tic tendency to long life. (Long, at the age of 300-plus years, is their senior member, and it is he who saves the Howards from genocide.) In Time Enough for Love, Long reappears some 1,700 years later, long after humanity has spread out among the stars, and long after the Howard Families' safety has been assured. Ancient and weary, Lazarus Long is intent on dying, and even his descendants' persuasion fails to move him. At least at first. Ensconced among his geneticist descendants, Long agrees to a Shahrzadelike scheme of storytelling to fend off death--only it is he who tells the tales to his family--while they (especially the courtesan, Tamara) heal him and help him search for a truly novel adventure. As a result, Time Enough for Love takes the form of the classic frame story; an account of Long's rejuvenation and formation of a new extended family constitutes the framework in which his tales of remembrance are told. T! he tales themselves are of novella length ("The Tale o! f the Adopted Daughter" may well be the most moving of Heinlein's works), and all of the stories in this lengthy masterpiece center around themes of love, happiness and childrearing--in essence, those things which sustain a fruitful, satisfying life. And who better than a man with two millenias' worth of lifetimes to hold forth on what comprises a good life? It turns out that Long still has one more adventure in store for him, as he embarks on a journey through space and time to the where/when of his youth: the Kansas City of the early Pendergast days. Set down by his space yacht in the middle of a southern Missouri cow pasture in 1916, Long begins a journey into his own past that leads him to the ultimate love--and the ultimate sacrifice. This latter section of Time Enough for Love reads as if it were a love letter from Heinlein to the innocent America in which he grew up; it leaves one wishing that Heinle! in had written steampunk or alternate histories, so evocative are his depictions of bygone days. On the other hand, Time Enough for Love is in a sense the vanguard of Heinlein's experiments with alternate realities, as evidenced by the sequels The Number of the Beast, The Cat who Walks through Walls and To Sail Beyond the Sunset. Time Enough for Love might well be the "capstone of Heinlein's Future History stories," but it is the keystone of Heinlein's multiverse. Preceding Time Enough for Love in the Future History continuum are Methuselah's Children and the collected short stories found in The Past Through Tomorrow. In addition, the sections of aphorisms in Time Enough. . . have been illuminated by Vassallo and published separately as a gift book: The Notebooks of Lazarus Long.
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