Talk:Robert A. Heinlein

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Robert A. Heinlein article.
Article policies
Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Featured article star Robert A. Heinlein is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do.
Main Page trophy This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on July 20, 2005.
June 11, 2005 Featured article candidate Promoted
Peer review This Langlit article has been selected for Version 0.5 and subsequent release versions of Wikipedia. It has been rated FA-Class on the assessment scale (comments).
This article is within the scope of the following WikiProjects:
Archive
Archives

Contents


[edit] Infobox troubles

Why are some of the lines (i.e. "pseudonyms") not being displayed in the infobox, despite being typed into the wikitext there? —ScouterSig 17:11, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Good question. Turned out that pseudonym has to be singular. Now fixed. Sbowers3 (talk) 19:04, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Book overviews?

Would it be possible to add a page with a one to two sentence overview of each of his published works? Heinleinreader (talk) 23:40, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it would be useful. Good luck describing SiaSL in two sentences.--Wehwalt (talk) 00:19, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
Agree with Wehwalt. David in DC (talk) 02:19, 4 April 2008 (UTC)
Human adopted by Martians returns to Earth. He shares the knowledge and powers he has gained, while learning about human sexuality; hilarity ensues.
—WWoods (talk) 00:44, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
Perfect! Got any more? Mike P (talk) 01:08, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
Poddy, her uncle and brother undertake a diplomatic mission on behalf of Martian sovreignty and independence. Lots of shenanigans and hijinks. Then more serious stuff. Poddy doesn't die. Or she does. David in DC (talk) 01:22, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
Howabout I Will Fear No Evil: Johann is old and rich. His brain is transplanted into his secretary's body after she is killed, but she is still there, or is she? Maybe a third one joins them. They all die anyway.--Wehwalt (talk) 15:36, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
Don't stop there, I was going to start collecting them on my talk space. Mike P (talk) 00:00, 9 April 2008 (UTC)
Uh, how about "People are mean to all these people with long lives, so they steal a starship and leave. They meet two (maybe three) sets of aliens and realize they want to go home. They go home and make up with the Earth people."
"Max Jones wants to be a spaceman. He cheats his way aboard and he is really good (and people die which helps him out) and by the end of the trip he is the captain. Even though he cheated he is allowed to stay."
"Juan goes off to fight the bugs who are attacking Earth. He has a lot of battles and thinks a lot about this class he had in high school. His dad joins too."
"Thorby is a slave, then he is adopted by this mysterious guy. He winds up on a spaceship, but has to go into the space navy. Turns out he is the richest guy in the galaxy but he still can't do what he wants. So he is still a slave."--Wehwalt (talk) 19:49, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
"From the cover blurbs, Friday doesn't look too intricately involved in the Rubik's cube Heinlien's Future History has become. From her picture, she looks smokin' hot. I buy book and am not disappointed" David in DC (talk) 20:11, 17 April 2008 (UTC)
"Alex is a fundamentalist minister, but is transported to an alternate world and falls for a Danish stewardess. Someone keeps putting them in alternate universes, turns out this jerk God got Loki to do it while the Devil is a real nice guy, Heaven is Hell and vice versa.--Wehwalt (talk) 20:29, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Heinlein's plots go all over the place. I don't think his books should have short summaries.Mike Presson (talk) 04:20, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] International Fortean Organization

Is it correct that Heinlein was a member of the International Fortean Organization? I've added fact tags to these statements. Googling hasn't turned up anything beyond (a) statements on the organization's own web page, and (b) mirrors of the WP article. Since INFO seems to have been associated with a variety of nutty ideas (flat earth,...), this seems implausible to me. We've already seen how eager the Freemasons are to claim Heinlein as one of their own, even though it was totally bogus. Maybe the Patterson bio will throw some light on this.--76.93.42.50 (talk) 23:26, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

It is well known that Robert Heinlein was a lifelong member and supporter of The International Fortean Organization. I've seen it published in more than a few places and also many times in the 35-year publishing history of the INFO Journal, published by the organization. Just because you don't know something, doesn't make it untrue! You should not tag everything you are ill-informed about. Heinlein and quite a few other notable science-fiction writers got turned on to Charles Fort and the original Fortean Society. The International Fortean Organization revived the Fortean Society only a couple of years after the death of editor Tiffany Thayer, and notable science fiction authors such as Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Damon Knight and others became members and correspondents with one of the founders Paul Willis. Quite a few people have seen letters from Heinlein written to the Internatonal Fortean Organization. Charles Fort is also widely recognized as the father of modern science fiction so your "nutty" label holds no weight. 209.163.119.67 (talk) 18:01, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Dean of Science Fiction Writers

There. I gave you four citations. I have a bunch of his books that say Dean of Science Fiction Writers or Dean of American Science Fiction Writers on the cover, and it says that in half the bios on Heinlein. If 4 is too much, cut it down to whatever you want that satisfies you. I hope this is not just a case of messing with an editor for no real reason; the article already has a link to a website called "Robert A. Heinlein, Dean of Science Fiction Writers, tribute site" in the external links section! No real fan of RAH would question this.Coffeehog (talk) 18:08, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

This is not a case of messing with an editor at all. This is a case of an editor adding in POV language that was unsourced. A different editor removed it so someone must have been seen it as contentious. I added the fact tag so that it wouldn't be removed for a period of time until a citation was provided. Looking at the sources that were provided to source the statement, the first is not a secondary source. The second is good since it a respected science fiction organization calling him that. The third times out for me, so I can not even look at it. The fourth almost appears to be a blog site. I think one source is probably sufficient for the info. I think the second one is probably the best one. As a fan of RAH, I wasn't questioning the statement I was trying to stop an edit war from starting and trying to retain that information in the article. Jons63 (talk) 19:24, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
I've followed this discussion and agree whole-heartedly with Jons63 actions and assessments of the profferred sources. I've edited the article to implement the best source, delete the other 3, and leave in the content.David in DC (talk) 20:45, 16 April 2008 (UTC)
I'm glad to hear it. I never said it was such a case, merely that I hoped it wasn't. If you want additional sources, I'm sure they can be found, but I have no problem with a single source. The title is very well known. Thanks for the cooperative editing.Coffeehog (talk) 17:17, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Factual problem

In describing Starship Troopers the article says:


Starship Troopers were meant to represent the Chinese or Japanese, Heinlein wrote the book in response to the unilateral ending of nuclear testing by the U.S., so it is more likely that they were intended to represent communism."

This can't be true as at the time the book was written the US had not stopped testing nuclear weapons. And when, in October of 1958, testing did pause, it was not unilateral. Rather it was a mutual decision taken by President Eisenhower and Premier Khrushchev of the Soviet Union. The "Eisenhower-Khrushchev moratorium" ended on JFK's watch when the Soviets resumed testing. The US was not far behind.

Indeed, during the Moratorium the US continued with low-yield nuclear experiments that were arguably violations of the agreement.


Peter.zimmerman (talk) 18:34, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I think that's entirely unlikely. If it's not sourced, I'd delete it. Heinlein pictured a future where nuclear weapons & power were first reserved to off-planet use, then simply became obsolete. He also wrote a rather chilling essay on the dangers of a single briefcase full of radioactive waste spread by a "dirty" convential explosive.
Certainly Fifth Column was about an Asian version of a "Red Threat". I've always thought Starship Troopers was Heinlein's response to War of the Worlds - let's get those bugs!
Isn't it ironic that the film booted the most unique part of the book, the battle suits that gave each soldier the power of a one-man army... and now the Iron Man movie will probably be a big hit?Coffeehog (talk) 19:21, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Literary criticism

An author featured article with no section devoted to literary criticism of the subject? Heinlein is one of the most significant SF writers of the 20th century, surely we can stretch to a paragraph or two? Skomorokh 16:50, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

If you have reliable/sourced literary criticism available then you are free to add a section along with references. Marc Kupper (talk) (contribs) 17:32, 1 May 2008 (UTC)
Yes yes yes, so fix it and all that. I was rather hoping on provoking someone else into doing it ;) Skomorokh 18:05, 1 May 2008 (UTC)