Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907-1948): Learning Curve [Hardcover]

William H. Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2010

Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) is generally considered the greatest American SF writer of the 20th century. A famous and bestselling author in later life, he started as a navy man and graduate of Annapolis who was forced to retire because of tuberculosis.  A socialist politician in the 1930s, he became one of the sources of Libertarian politics in the USA in his later years. His most famous works include the Future History series (stories and novels collected in The Past Through Tomorrow and continued in later novels), Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.

Given his desire for privacy in the later decades of his life, he was both stranger and more interesting than one could ever have known. This is the first of two volumes of a major American biography. This volume is about Robert A. Heinlein's life up to the end of the 1940s and the mid-life crisis that changed him forever.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[Heinlein] made footsteps big enough for a whole country to follow. And it was our country that did it… We proceed down a path marked by his ideas. That’s legacy enough for any man. He showed us where the future is.”
 —Tom Clancy

“Like Carlos Baker’s Hemingway, this is an essential and exhaustive life.”
 —Joe Haldeman

“Patterson offers a meticulous life-portrait of America’s most pivotal science fiction author. In following Robert Heinlein’s journey, step-by-step, we come to understand the persistent themes of his work. Perseverance, compassion, courage, curiosity, and—above all—a drive to confront the future on its own terms, eye-to-eye.”
—David Brin

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

William Patterson lives in San Francisco, California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; First Edition edition (August 17, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765319608
• ISBN-13: 978-0765319609
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #599,151 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing accomplishment, August 22, 2010

By 

Michael Booker (Arnold, MO USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907-1948): Learning Curve (Hardcover)

Patterson has been given unprecedented access to prepare a two-volume authorized biography of science fiction giant Robert A. Heinlein. The depth of detail that he offers here - backed up by nearly a hundred pages of footnotes--means that we have a definitive biography of a one of America's greatest authors.

One of the things that I most deeply appreciate is that this isn't a hagiography. Patterson has deep affection for his subject, but Heinlein is shown as a flawed human being who makes many mistakes and who had many shortcomings. Many mysteries about his life are finally resolved (who was his first wife - the one before Leslyn?) thanks to extensive detective work.

For fans of Heinlein's fiction, this book (and I trust, the subsequent volume) will help to answer the tired question that ever author dreads, "Where do you get your ideas?" Heinlein's life is, naturally, the chief source for his fictional characters and plot lines. Sometimes Patterson is explicit in drawing these connections. In other places, readers versed in Heinlein's work will catch these linkages on their own.

The book must also be praised as a fascinating lesson in American history. Heinlein came from humble Missouri roots and lived through the bulk of the 20th century. His Navy career prior to WWII is fascinating in its own right, as is his involvement in California politics during the Depression.

Fans of Heinlein: READ THIS BOOK. Fans of science fiction: READ THIS BOOK. As for those interested in American History, especially U.S. Naval history...I strongly commend this biography to you.

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heinlein biography brilliant, September 21, 2010

By 

M. J. Lamb "excessivelyperky" (Klamath Falls, OR, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907-1948): Learning Curve (Hardcover)

This Heinlein biography is both well researched and brilliant. The author does his best to understand Heinlein and his work in the context of his work, his interest in science, and most of all, his patriotism and military service. As a former military member myself, it's hard to explain to those who have never been in exactly what a life-changing experience this can be. I had never heard over half of the personal detail before (the book's fair and in many ways, loving description of Leslyn Heinlein makes reading FARNHAM'S FREEHOLD a much more interesting experience). It was also great to see the descriptions of fans and other SF writers (some of whom I have been lucky enough to meet) in this book as well. I'm about three-quarters of the way through, and I can already tell that I'm going to be really ticked the second volume isn't out yet.

52 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stay away from the kindle edition, October 29, 2010

By 

Hugh Pickens (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1 (1907-1948): Learning Curve (Kindle Edition)

I have been waiting for this book for years and I was on a three week road trip when it came out so I bought the book to read on the kindle application on my iPad. What a mistake. I learned by reading reviews of the book that there is an entire section in the book filed with photos. That photo section is entirely missing from the kindle edition.

The book itself is all I expected but I recently ordered the hardcover so I could see what I had been missing so I am essentially paying for the same book twice. The book is great. It fills in a lot of missing pieces in the puzzle that is Heinlein. But I would stay away from the kindle version.