Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century

I just came across (and I’m sorry if this sounds circuitous) Cory Doctorow’s account of a review of a biography of the science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein. The biography sounds worth reading, especially if you are (or have been) a fan of Heinlein’s writing.

The first volume of William H Patterson’s enormous Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century is out. It’s the first authorized biography of the sf writer who popularized at least three important motifs of the 20th century (polyamory, private space travel and libertarianism) and redefined the field of science fiction with a series of novels, stories and essays that are usually brilliant but sometimes self-indulgent, sometimes offensive in their treatment of race and gender, and always provocative and generally sneaky.

The best review I’ve read of this book so far comes from John Clute, one of the field’s great scholars and critical writers, who devoted his June column in Strange Horizons to discussing Heinlein’s work and (flatteringly enough) comparing it to the whys and hows of my own work. I recommend you read Clute’s piece now…

via Heinlein memoir: LEARNING CURVE – the secret history of science fiction – Boing Boing.