A formative but problematic novel for me. If you read this knowing nothing about Heinlein you might see him as sort of a hippie. In reality he was quite a vehement conservative. I heard a rumour once that there was an aneurysm the preceded his sudden shift to this sort of sex-crazed middle/old age in his writings; I never actually got too close to very much biographical information after reading one of his speeches, which did not enthuse me.

There was much once to recommend Heinlein, in past ages, which shared the same problematic aspects as him. In this age, the incredibly heterosexual "liberation" of his characters will read as cringey to most. RAH was not a hippie, but clearly he wanted to be. I don't know if he and Richard Feynman were friends but I would not be surprised.

I'm not touching too much on the book itself, and this comment is mostly for the curious who have 2023 sensibilities and want to check out what absolutely is a centrally important Science Fiction novel from a centrally important figure. Whatever his problematic aspects may be, Heinlein is like a Phil Spector or a DW Griffith - as horrific as their lives or art might be, they all changed things in ways that history has decreed, for good or ill, we will not ignore.