Anyone here ever read "Farnhams Freehold"

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anyone here ever read "Farnhams Freehold"

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:27:46 AM EDT

By Robert A. Heinlein? I found it to be an entertaining book. My neighbor next door wants to make a sign like the freehold sign for his front yard:

Anyone Else here read it?

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:28:43 AM EDT

[#1]

Yup. Read it when I was a kid. Good stuff.

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:30:09 AM EDT

[#2]

read it back in the '70s - remember I liked it, probably should read it again.

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:30:52 AM EDT

[#3]

Yup,my copy fell apart some time ago unfortunately.

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:31:26 AM EDT

[#4]

Yep, I read it when I was a teenager and remember liking it. I can't remember much about it though.

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:33:25 AM EDT

[#5]

Only about five times.
I didn't like it as much as I did some of his other books.
(I'm reading "to Sail beyond the Sunset" right now)

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:40:15 AM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
read it back in the '70s - remember I liked it, probably should read it again.

If you don't have a dead tree copy I believe it is now part of Baen's Free Library.

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:45:38 AM EDT

[#7]

Is that the one where the nuclear war breaks out and they get bombed in their shelter and sent through time into the future where the black man now runs the world and owns everything?

Nope, never read it!

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:47:18 AM EDT

[#8]

read it last year.

Interesting read.

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:48:56 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
By Robert A. Heinlein? I found it to be an entertaining book. My neighbor next door wants to make a sign like the freehold sign for his front yard:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519ydZxa6TL._SS500_.jpg

Anyone Else here read it?

No one, anywhere, has ever read Farnham's Freehold. Robert Heinlein did not exist. You are alone in this "reality".

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:50:46 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

Is that the one where the nuclear war breaks out and they get bombed in their shelter and sent through time into the future where the black man now runs the world and owns everything?

Nope, never read it!

I was buying all of it, until someone was driving a car without a stick shift.

Totally unbelievable!

Posted: 9/17/2009 10:51:01 AM EDT

[#11]

I read until the part their "bunker" got teleported to another dimension because of the atom bombs.

Posted: 9/17/2009 11:12:44 AM EDT

[#12]

I liked how in the future, They didn't eat Soylent Green but just skipped right to the eating people part.

I read it last winter after my neighbor told me about it in relation to the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

Other than This book and Starship Troopers (Which I hear the book is a lot different than the movie)

what other books of his are really good?

ETA: This post number is dedicated to my U.S. Army Reception Battalion (Ft. Jacks) Roster Number B Co. 120th AG BN 18th Platoon #395.

Posted: 9/17/2009 11:34:22 AM EDT

[#13]

I think a more appropriate question would be which of his books AREN'T good.

Posted: 9/17/2009 11:42:20 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Other than This book and Starship Troopers (Which I hear the book is a lot different than the movie)
what other books of his are really good?

Expanded Universe
Requiem (tribute)
Tramp Royale (Non fiction - and a really good read)
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
Stranger In A Strange Land,
To Sail Beyond The Sunset
Time Enough For Love
I Will Fear No Evil
Glory Road
The Past Through Tomorrow
The Number Of The Beast
Orphans of the Sky
Tunnel in the Sky
Farmer in the Sky
Methuselah's Children
Rocketship Galileo
Have Spacesute - Will Travel
Notebooks of Lazarus Long
Puppet Masters

That's just right off the top of my head.

There's a whole lot more.

Yes, Starship Troopers is profoundly different in book form - just as an example, Dizzy is not female (although I won't poo poo the scenes with Dina Meyer - yum) and everyone is issued/wears power armor -

Heinlein's a funny duck - his writing style changed over the years, and there seem to be two camps of folks, regardless of which book you're referring to.

1) "That's good stuff"
2) The tinfoil hat wearing, "He's a dirty old man and he writes trash" - these are the folks that assign more meaning to what he writes, than what he wrote.

I will admit that he has the dangerous position of having ideas, and is unabashed in presenting them. So what? The folks who get rabid about what he wrote, frothing at the mouth and such are usually small minded, censorship proposing, book burners. Not my cup of tea.

I fall in to the first category. There are some of his books (starbeast, Unpleasant Profession of Johnathan Hoag) that I like less than the others, but I still like them. I have probably 95% of everything he's written, and I re-read them until they fall apart (I'm working on my 6th or 8th copy of Harsh Mistress). When I can't think of anything else that I want to read, I pick up some Heinlein. It's always entertaining.

All I can say is try them out - if you don't like them, sign up for Paperback Swap (paperbackswap.com) and trade them for something you do want.

Posted: 9/17/2009 11:44:09 AM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:

Quoted:

By Robert A. Heinlein? I found it to be an entertaining book. My neighbor next door wants to make a sign like the freehold sign for his front yard:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519ydZxa6TL._SS500_.jpg

Anyone Else here read it?

No one, anywhere, has ever read Farnham's Freehold. Robert Heinlein did not exist. You are alone in this "reality".

Okay... you're being a bit snarky, Sparky. But, I did LOL...

Posted: 9/17/2009 11:45:54 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:

I read until the part their "bunker" got teleported to another dimension because of the atom bombs.

The genre's called Science Fiction for a reason...

ETA - to answer the OP? Yes. Interesting read. Liked Troopers better.

Posted: 9/17/2009 11:53:31 AM EDT

[#17]

Heinlein had a few 'different' ideas about sexuality (polygamy, chain marriage, etc) in his later works, but most of his books are still excellent.

Kharn

Posted: 9/17/2009 12:04:41 PM EDT

[#18]

Heinlein wrote some good stuff, he also wrote some stuff that was way the fuck out there, mainly his later stuff. I liked Time enough for Love and thought it was great until the last couple chapters when Lazarus went back in time and started banging his mom, and To Sail beyond the Sunset was almost unreadable for me. I mean come on, 400 pages of incest and 50 pages of plot? I don't want to read that shit.

The polygamy in Harsh Mistress didn't bother me, but the incest was way over the line.

Posted: 9/17/2009 12:19:05 PM EDT

[#19]

Tunnel in the Sky was better. I was not diggin the transported to another time thing either.

Posted: 9/17/2009 12:42:11 PM EDT

[#20]

Yep, read it when it came out.

Posted: 9/17/2009 12:51:01 PM EDT

[#21]

Yeah, I read it but didn't like it as much as Starship Troopers. I really do need to get some more of his books.

Posted: 9/17/2009 12:54:02 PM EDT

[#22]

Not one of his better ones. Glory road and Starship Trooper were good. Space cadet was ok as well.

Posted: 9/17/2009 2:32:40 PM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I read until the part their "bunker" got teleported to another dimension because of the atom bombs.

The genre's called Science Fiction for a reason...

Yeah, that's what it is supposed to be. But in reality it is Fantasy Fiction

I don't take false advertising too well.

Ever read The Number of the Beast? It starts out really good. The heroes invent a device that allows them to skip through dimensions in their vehicle without using much energy. That is fine and well within the bounds of the scifi genre. Many adventures follow. Then about 3/4 the way through he starts explaining that every time a children's book is written or someone dreams up some fantasy, a dimension is created where that story is true, no matter how bizarre the physics. And there is a Mistress of the universe that oversees all this.

Or in Time Enough for Love I understand the idea of taboos being necessary because of genetic problems and once technology removes those genetic barriers we can think about how that affects our relationships. But 1000 pages and the punchline is the hero banging his mother and daughters?

Or in Stranger in a Strange Land where the enlightened dumbass can make people disappear. Really now. This is absurd.

I'm not against fantasy fiction. It can be fun. Heinlein wrote Glory Road, which makes no pretensions to being science fiction and is a fun yarn.

Rocketship Galileo, Starship Troopers, Harsh Mistress, and Friday, to varying degrees, are actually SCIENCE fiction.

Posted: 9/17/2009 2:40:18 PM EDT

[#24]

Posted: 9/17/2009 2:45:40 PM EDT

[#25]

Yup, I read it and was left feeling quite certain that Robert Heinlein was a big believer in predestined fate. Oh, and judging from this and several of his other books, cannabalism too.

Good book though, but the one I had didn't have the sign on the cover it had an artists idea of Hugh. The sign IIRC was the last thing in the book.

Posted: 9/17/2009 2:54:01 PM EDT

[#26]

I have not read FF yet. I had read almost every other book of Heinliens by the time I was 16 though. I think his books had a profound effect on my mental development. For example there are virtues taught in Starship Troopers that I still carry with me today when I first read the book when I was 15.

Posted: 9/17/2009 3:10:30 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:I'm not against fantasy fiction. It can be fun. Heinlein wrote Glory Road, which makes no pretensions to being science fiction and is a fun yarn.

Rocketship Galileo, Starship Troopers, Harsh Mistress, and Friday, to varying degrees, are actually SCIENCE fiction.

ANY sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. -Arthur C. Clarke

Go and try explaining the workings of a computer to a 16th century peon. Heck - try explaining it to a 21st century peon. It ain't gonna happen.

RAH actually wrote once that he didn't like the labels of Science Fiction vs Fantasy Fiction - he preferred "Speculative Fiction" -

I enjoy them for the yarn and the character interaction - the rest of it is merely plot devices to aid in the story telling.

Read "Tenderfoot in Space" by RAH - it's merely a scouting story, set in a "space" environment.

I lump "Number of the Beast" as fantasy, with some science type elements.

Posted: 9/17/2009 3:15:45 PM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
I think a more appropriate question would be which of his books AREN'T good.

This. His young adult and children's books are dated, but worth reading. Heck two of those (Space Cadet and Between Planets) had cell phones in them.

His later stuff had too much sex for some people's taste. Not me, but some people.

Posted: 9/17/2009 3:20:04 PM EDT

[#29]

Quoted:

Quoted:I'm not against fantasy fiction. It can be fun. Heinlein wrote Glory Road, which makes no pretensions to being science fiction and is a fun yarn.

Rocketship Galileo, Starship Troopers, Harsh Mistress, and Friday, to varying degrees, are actually SCIENCE fiction.

ANY sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. -Arthur C. Clarke

Go and try explaining the workings of a computer to a 16th century peon. Heck - try explaining it to a 21st century peon. It ain't gonna happen.

RAH actually wrote once that he didn't like the labels of Science Fiction vs Fantasy Fiction - he preferred "Speculative Fiction" -

I enjoy them for the yarn and the character interaction - the rest of it is merely plot devices to aid in the story telling.

Read "Tenderfoot in Space" by RAH - it's merely a scouting story, set in a "space" environment.

I lump "Number of the Beast" as fantasy, with some science type elements.

Blah blah blah. The point of SCIENCE fiction is to either explore the future with technological developments or imagine the human species in more advanced environments to illustrate something about the human condition. Starship Troopers and Harsh Mistress do that well. Going off on some mindfuck yarn isn't useful, edifying, or even entertaining. It's just tedious. Heinlein just said that because writing SCIENCE fiction is hard work vs spinning a children's bedtime story. Heinlein devolved into fantastical nonsense with his proliferation of books, but there are authors out there who aren't nearly as prolific, publish once every five years or so, but their works are quality.

Posted: 9/17/2009 3:20:56 PM EDT

[#30]

Quoted:
Read "Tenderfoot in Space" by RAH - it's merely a scouting story, set in a "space" environment.

RAH actually wrote more than a few short stories for Boy's Life back when. The two I remember were the kid who was trying to make Eagle on three worlds (Earth, Venus and Moon), and the scout and his dog who went to Venus where the dog end up with a lifesaving medal. He probably wrote enough of them to make an omnibus all by itself. I'd certainly buy one.

Posted: 9/17/2009 3:22:49 PM EDT

[#31]

It is next on the stack.

Just finished up Destiny's Road.

Posted: 9/17/2009 3:28:16 PM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
I think a more appropriate question would be which of his books AREN'T good.

Of those that I read:
-Time enough for love
-The cat who walks through walls

Both started good, but went really really wierd. The cat who walks through walls started great with interesting characters, great banter, and an intriguing murder mystery, and then went off the extra dimensional deep end. Time enough for love was a slog and then the main character went back in time and made me ill.

Posted: 9/17/2009 3:41:26 PM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:

RAH actually wrote more than a few short stories for Boy's Life back when. The two I remember were the kid who was trying to make Eagle on three worlds (Earth, Venus and Moon) and the scout and his dog who went to Venus where the dog end up with a lifesaving medal. He probably wrote enough of them to make an omnibus all by itself. I'd certainly buy one.

Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon
&
Tenderfoot in Space

He always said that he wanted to make a collection of his scout stories and publish them in one volume.

I'd buy it too.

In a half a heart-beat. right there with you.

Posted: 9/18/2009 5:24:50 AM EDT

[#34]

Interesting posts. I cannot really comment about the author since I have only read the one book, but I intend to read more of his stuff when I can.

Thanks for the replies.

I posted another thread about another SciFi Author. Check it out here:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=929296&page=1

Posted: 9/18/2009 5:40:33 AM EDT

[#35]

Easily one of my favorite RAH novels. I read that, Have Spacesuit Will Travel, and Starship Troopers in middle and high school, and they probably influenced my political leanings more than any other book writen not by one of the founding fathers. Farnams Freehold and Starship Troopers are already making the rounds of my dorm here, and everyone is oving them. (The benefits of going to a university where the Kenyan is routinely bashed by the Chancelor.

)

Posted: 9/18/2009 5:52:21 AM EDT

[#36]

Yep. A long time ago.

I still remember the "books as cash" line.

Posted: 9/18/2009 6:14:20 AM EDT

[#37]

It's not one of his better efforts, IMO. Starship Troopers was great, and The Past Through Tomorrow was a good collection of his earlier short works. I also liked Stranger in a Strange Land, and Job was surprisingly good too.

Posted: 9/18/2009 6:39:32 AM EDT

[#38]

I've read everything he ever had printed; loved almost all of it.

You have to remember, much of what he was trying to do wasn't to merely entertain or even to teach. Most of the time, (in addition to entertain) he was trying to make readers THINK! Maybe even QUESTION!

I think he loved people to disagree with him, as long as it was thoughtful, meaningful and well intended.

One of my favorite (if not THE favorite) authors.

SMS-ret

Posted: 9/18/2009 9:48:34 AM EDT

[#39]

There IS a lot of kinky stuff in quite a few of his books. I, too, find it a turn-off.
And the one I just finished is maybe the worst of all with the incest stuff. (To sail beyond the sunset)
I was thinking, though, that while there isa lot of talk about sex, it isn't pornographic in the slightest.
In fact, it's as if it were being written by a very smart nerd with a LOT of sexual fantasies.

But...but... there was all the other stuff; stuff I wanted to underline, or copy and post somewhere because it is so relevant.

I also agree with the values comment someone else made. I read his juveniles AND his adult stuff back in the 60's and 70's, and it is always a treat to re-read those books and say to myself: so that's where I got that idea!

Fror ARFCOM - the book is The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Work into the other stuff slowly.

Posted: 9/18/2009 4:59:29 PM EDT

[#40]

Tunnel in the Sky is a GREAT book, as is Moon is a Harsh mistress. Farnham's Freehold was a very thought provoking & kinda disturbing book on several levels. I recommend it highly.

Posted: 9/18/2009 5:05:42 PM EDT

[#41]

I didn't think it was a very good book. It did nothing to pull me in, unlike every other Heinlein book I've read.

I have the copy you show, and for the life of me I can't figure out how it would cause any sort of controversy, other than blacks running the world. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress talks about overthrowing the government, Starship Troopers is about a militarized eutopia ( or utopia if you prefer), Stranger in a Strange Land was about free love communes. Any one of those was far more interesting, engaging and potentially controversial than Farnham's Freehold. Hell, for controversy, it's hard to beat Time Enough for Love, just for the incest.

Posted: 9/18/2009 5:16:06 PM EDT

[#42]

Heinlein wanted to turn your cultural assumptions around. He was writing for people who liked inteligent contemplation as well as action. "The door went up." was an example he gave of trying to turn your preceptions upside down. He was pilloried for Satrship Troopers by the Left of the '50s. They just didn't get it. Their egos got in the way. T h i n k a b o u t t h a t.

Posted: 9/18/2009 5:17:29 PM EDT

[#43]

Yep. Nuclear war happens, survivalist has blast shelter for family and a friend or two. When they go outside, everything is green, and the world is ruled by flying negro cannibals.

Good book.

Posted: 9/18/2009 5:21:45 PM EDT

[#44]

FF is a good book. Minutes ago I loaned my copy of "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" to a guy at the local pub.

Posted: 9/18/2009 5:49:50 PM EDT

[#45]

I'll have to get it.

I'm a big Heinlein fan.

Read tons of his stuff as a kid.

Posted: 9/18/2009 8:30:02 PM EDT

[#46]

I probably read every book and story Heinlein wrote as I was growing up.
While a few of his stories and ideas are a bit farfetched none of them are
totally irrational or unbelievable. And like all good science fiction it was as
true to the then current scientific theory as was reasonable without harming
the story line. I don't think Heinlein wrote anything that I would consider
unreadable. All of his work was worth the time spent reading it.

Posted: 9/19/2009 5:30:17 PM EDT

[#47]

Quoted:
I didn't think it was a very good book. It did nothing to pull me in, unlike every other Heinlein book I've read.

I have the copy you show, and for the life of me I can't figure out how it would cause any sort of controversy, other than blacks running the world. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress talks about overthrowing the government, Starship Troopers is about a militarized eutopia ( or utopia if you prefer), Stranger in a Strange Land was about free love communes. Any one of those was far more interesting, engaging and potentially controversial than Farnham's Freehold. Hell, for controversy, it's hard to beat Time Enough for Love, just for the incest.

It was the thought of being a slave because of your/my white skin. I must say I had never really thought about it from the SLAVE's point of view before & I found it quite disturbing (and the cannibalism aspect sure didn't help any!!)

Posted: 9/19/2009 5:31:10 PM EDT

[#48]

Heck yea!

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Anyone here ever read "Farnhams Freehold"

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