No Time Enough for That Much Love

Matt Welch | April 8, 2005

More evidence that the "tail" is not just long, it's also thick as three bricks -- Meisha Merlin Publishing is coming out with a limited-edition "Definitive Collection" of Robert A. Heinlein, encompassing all his novels, short stories, and non-fiction books, plus a bunch of other interviews, commentaries, speeches, and other Heinleinalia. (Link via Boing Boing.)

Comments

Larry A|4.8.05 @ 5:36PM|#

There went the book budget.

|4.8.05 @ 6:15PM|#

I like a lot of RAH, but I haven't got around to reading all the Heinleinia I've already got.

|4.8.05 @ 6:32PM|#

The price will certainly guarantee that it remains a "Limited Edition". How much more could the leather editon cost?

Fred|4.8.05 @ 7:32PM|#

At a bit more than $50 a volume, the price is only slightly out of line for commercial hardcovers. And most of these books are currently unavailable in hc except in library editions.

That said, there are plenty of books in this set I wouldn't pay $5 for, let alone $50. (I Will Fear No Evil, Job, and The Cat Who Walked Through Walls spring to mind at once.)

I know Heinlein has a special place in the libertarian dialectic, but wouldn't you rather pay this kind of money for a 50 volume limited edition set of the most influential anarchist/libertarian tomes?

(Good luck reaching consensus on what to include.)

Franklin Harris|4.8.05 @ 9:26PM|#

I rather liked "Job."

In any case, I hope Meisha Merlin's Heinlein books are more attractive than the one they did of a friend of mine's short stories. Even she hates the cover art, probably more than I.

|4.10.05 @ 1:27AM|#

For $2,200 I want the Moon AND the mistress.

|4.10.05 @ 10:41PM|#

Fred

I can agree with you on Fear no Evil and the Cat who Walks through Walls but I found to Job to very one of the most entertaining books that Heinlein wrote. Here is one of my favorite Heinlein gems:

"History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it."
Lazarus Long in Time Enough for Love

|4.11.05 @ 1:45AM|#

Fred,

"Job" is an excellent book. Are you a thin-skinned theist?

Fred|4.11.05 @ 7:09PM|#

Nope, I am in fact an anti-theist. Not an atheist. I don't disbelieve in some supreme power. An anti-theist. I find the very question of god's existence or nonexistence to be meaningless and of little importance to my life. I suppose you could call me a child of the Enlightenment.

As a teenager, The Book of Job from the good old King James was the piece of writing that confirmed
for me the meaninglessness of the very concept of god. If a self proclaimed supreme being could essentially take its toys and go home anytime he/she/it wanted, then there was nothing I could do to be in a rational relationship with said concept. So I chose not to bother.

As to Heinlein's "Job",I just happen think that "Double Star", "Have Spacesuit Will Travel," and "The Moon is A Harsh Mistress" (among others) are infinitely better written and are in fact far more important books.

If you want to read an SF/Enlightenment take on Job, James Morrow's "Blameless In Abbadon" is MUCH better written and much more thoughtful in its use of theological commentary.