Expanded Universe

by Robert A. Heinlein

The Wit and Wisdom of Robert A. Heinlein, author of multiple New York Times best sellers, on subjects ranging from Crime and Punishment to the Love Life of the American Teenager; from Nuclear Power to the Pragmatics of Patriotism; from Prophecy to Destiny; from Geopolitics to Post-Holocaust America; from the Nature of Courage to the Nature of Reality; it's all here and it's all great - straight from the mind of the finest science fiction writer of them all.

For the Millions of Heinlein Fans-a Guided Tour Through the Thoughts and Insights of "One of the Most Influential Writers in American Literature" –The New York Times Book Review

Contents:
Foreword
Life-Line
Successful Operation
Blowups Happen
Solution Unsatisfactory
The Last Days of the United States
Ho to Be a Survivor
Pie from the Sky
They Do It With Mirrors
Free Men
No Bands Playing, No Flags Flying—
A Bathroom of Her Own
On the Slopes of Vesuvius
Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon
Pandora's Box
Where To?
Cliff and the Calories
Ray Guns and Rocket Ships
The Third Millennium Opens
Who Are the Heirs of Patrick Henry?
"Pravda" Means "Truth"
Inside Tourist
Seachlight
The Pragmatics of Patriotism
Paul Dirac, Antimatter, and You
Larger Than Life
Spinoff
The Happy Days Ahead

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy, Collections, Anthologies, Ebooks

720 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1980

About the author

Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accuracy in his fiction, and was thus a pioneer of the subgenre of hard science fiction. His published works, both fiction and non-fiction, express admiration for competence and emphasize the value of critical thinking. His plots often posed provocative situations which challenged conventional social mores. His work continues to have an influence on the science-fiction genre, and on modern culture more generally.
Heinlein became one of the first American science-fiction writers to break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s. He was one of the best-selling science-fiction novelists for many decades, and he, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke are often considered the "Big Three" of English-language science fiction authors. Notable Heinlein works include Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers (which helped mold the space marine and mecha archetypes) and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. His work sometimes had controversial aspects, such as plural marriage in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, militarism in Starship Troopers and technologically competent women characters who were formidable, yet often stereotypically feminine—such as Friday.
Heinlein used his science fiction as a way to explore provocative social and political ideas and to speculate how progress in science and engineering might shape the future of politics, race, religion, and sex. Within the framework of his science-fiction stories, Heinlein repeatedly addressed certain social themes: the importance of individual liberty and self-reliance, the nature of sexual relationships, the obligation individuals owe to their societies, the influence of organized religion on culture and government, and the tendency of society to repress nonconformist thought. He also speculated on the influence of space travel on human cultural practices.
Heinlein was named the first Science Fiction Writers Grand Master in 1974. Four of his novels won Hugo Awards. In addition, fifty years after publication, seven of his works were awarded "Retro Hugos"—awards given retrospectively for works that were published before the Hugo Awards came into existence. In his fiction, Heinlein coined terms that have become part of the English language, including grok, waldo and speculative fiction, as well as popularizing existing terms like "TANSTAAFL", "pay it forward", and "space marine". He also anticipated mechanical computer-aided design with "Drafting Dan" and described a modern version of a waterbed in his novel Beyond This Horizon.
Also wrote under Pen names: Anson McDonald, Lyle Monroe, Caleb Saunders, John Riverside and Simon York.

Reviews

[Darth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the short fiction in this volume I have read in other collections - so mainly I read this for the non-fiction. The stories are a little interesting, but for most people, feel free to skip this, unless you are super anal and have to read EVERYTHING by your favorite authors.

Most of the tales start out on one track, but devolve into a 70-something year old guy complaining - Todays kids are stupid, foreign countries try to rob tourists, money doesnt mean anything if not backed by gold, and everything was better when he was young and in his prime...

I cringe to think what he would say about America today - but I had a good idea what this would be when I went into it, so I think it mitigated the experience for me.

[Andrew · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just realized the irony of deciding to stop reading this on Memorial Day, given all of the pro-military jingoism on display in many of Heinlein's essays. I swear it wasn't intentional -- I just coincidentally figured out today that about half of these 500+ pages were ideologically conservative non-fiction instead of the sci-fi short stories I was expecting.

I have no personal need for that paranoid tripe, especially when a solid majority of Heinlein's political and technological predictions were hilariously mistaken. Consider it my Memorial Day observance, to refuse to read paranoid propaganda that, if ever implemented, would lead to the senseless loss of millions more soldiers' lives. I respect our fallen soldiers too much to endorse this.

Among the far too few pieces of actual fiction, I rated two as good: "Life-line," about the practical effects of a scientist who figures out how to predict people's deaths, and "Free Men," a grim, realistic depiction of a resistance movement in post-invasion America. The rest of the book is utterly forgettable and I encourage you to avoid it while seeking out these two stories.

@pointblaek

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fun miscellaneous writings from Heinlein, from a cabaret detective story to a boy scout lunar tale. There's quite a bit of nonfiction, mostly relating to nuclear power, nuclear armaments, patriotism, the armed forces, Russia, and the Cold War. A couple of essays detail the encounter with "pravda" ("truth") that Mr. and Mrs. Heinlein experienced in their trip to the Soviet Union in 1960. There are many prognostications, ranging from alarmingly accurate to quaint in showing their age.

It's probably the biggest hodgepodge of an anthology I've ever read, but there's more than enough good stuff to keep it entertaining.

[Angie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Of all the Heinlein I have read, this was by far his weakest collection, and one of the worst books I've read. I'm so glad it was free, because if I'd paid even 10 cents for this book, I'd want my money back.

[Larry Bassett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This audible book has stories that originated in the middle of the 20th century, and can barely be considered as science-fiction in my opinion. There is a definite conservative leaning, which is also not of my persuasion. And there is a whole lot of emphasis on the use and abuse of nuclear weapons.

[Nathan Titus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mainly nonfiction and fairly uninteresting short stories. I never realized how much of a pro military pro police state neoconservative heinlein was.since the bulk of this book came from 5 hat perspective I found it quite unpleasant. I really liked the last part of the final essay, where he briefly switches to fiction and gas a president solve all the pathetic problems of the usa in just a few years with a radically common sense approach. Reading it, you almost think it could work. Ended the book on a good high note. Heimlein can be a good writer after all. Unfortunately this book is proof that he doesn't have to be.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I do not usually read short stories, I will make an exception for Heinlein, now and then.

[Austin Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really didn't enjoy this one. Too lengthy.

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Simple Political story.

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A short short short story from 1940!

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Heinlein's 1980 collection "Expanded Universe", he released three short stories all related to the consequences of the A-bomb, all three were previously rejected:

"The Last Days of the United States"
"How to Be a Survivor"
"Pie from the Sky"

All three should be read together as one story/dialogue.

He most interesting part I found was when a character asks Heinlein “Isn’t it true that the government is planning to disperse the cities so we will be safe from atomic bombs?” And then Heinlein goes into the math being evacuating Los Angeles.

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Written in 1947, but released twenty years later in "The Worlds of Robert Heinlein", this story shows an absolute one-sided destruction of the characters. Quite interesting and haunting.

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Heinlein's 1980 collection "Expanded Universe", he released three short stories all related to the consequences of the A-bomb, all three were previously rejected:

"The Last Days of the United States"
"How to Be a Survivor"
"Pie from the Sky"

All three should be read together as one story/dialogue.

He most interesting part I found was when a character asks Heinlein “Isn’t it true that the government is planning to disperse the cities so we will be safe from atomic bombs?” And then Heinlein goes into the math being evacuating Los Angeles...

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Heinlein doesn't really dip his hat into Comedy too often. This is one of his comedies about everything good about the world getting A-bombed. Can be found in "Expanded Universe".

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The A-bomb can drop any minute!

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Standard Detective Novel.

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According to Heinlein:

"This story was tailored in length (1500 words) for Colliers as a short-short. I then tried it on the
American Legion magazine—and was scolded for suggesting that the treatment given our veterans was ever less than perfect. I then offered it to several SF editors—and was told that it was not a science fiction story. (Gee whiz and Goshwollickers !—space warps and FTL are science but therapy and psychology are not. I must be in the wrong church.)"

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Heinlein, simply, cannot write stories with female leads.

This story is actually a precursor to "Podkayne of Mars". Heinlein says so himself!

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This is, in my opinion, Heinlein at one of his most extreme moments. Basically says we must continue the path of killing half the world, it order for America's ideals to live on.

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HERE IS THE STORY IN IT'S ENTIRETY:

Now, at the beginning of the year 2001, it is time to see where we have been and guess at where we are going. A thousand years ago Otto III ruled the Holy Roman Empire, William the Conqueror was not yet born, and the Discovery of America was almost five hundred years in the future. The condition of mankind had not changed in most important respects since the dawn of history. Aside from language and local custom a peasant of 1000 B.C. would have been right at home in a village of 1001 A.D.

He would not be so today!

The major changes took place in the last two centuries, but the most significant change of all occurred in the last fifty years, during the lifetimes of many of us. In 1950 six out of ten persons could neither read nor write; today an illiterate person is a freak.(1)

More people have learned to read and write in the past fifty years than in all the thousands of years preceding 1950.

This one change is more world-shaking than the establishment this last year of the laboratory outpost on Pluto. We think of this century just closed as the one in which mankind conquered space; it would be more appropriate to think of it as the century in which the human race finally learned to read and write.

(Let's give the Devil his due; the contagious insanities of the past century - communism, xenophobia, aggressive nationalism, the explosions of the formerly colonial peoples - have done more to spread literacy than the efforts of all the do - gooders in history. The Three R's suddenly became indispensable weapons in mankind's bloodiest struggles - learn to read, or die. Out of bad has come good; a man who can read and write is nine - tenths free even in chains.)

But something else has happened as important as the ABC's. The big - muscled accomplishments of the past fifty years - like sea - farming, the fantastic multiplication of horsepower, and spaceships, pantographic factories, the Sahara Sea, reflexive automation, tapping the Sun - overshadow the most radical advance, i.e., the first fumbling steps in founding a science of the human mind.

Fifty years ago hypnotism was a parlor trick, clairvoyance was superstition, telepathy was almost unknown, and parapsychology was on a par with phrenology and not as respectable as the most popular nonsense called astrology.

Do we have a "science of the mind" today? Far from it. But we do have - A Certainty of Survival after Death, proved with scientific rigor more complete than that which we apply to heat engines. It is hard to believe that it was only in 1952 that Morey Bernstein, using hypnotic regression, established the personal survival of Bridget Murphy - and thereby turned the western world to a research that Asia and Africa had always taken for granted.(2)

Telepathy and Clairvoyance for Military Purposes. The obvious effect was the changing of war from a "closed" game to an "open" game in the mathematical sense, with the consequence that assassination is now more important than mass weapons. It may well be that no fusion bomb or plague weapon will ever again be used - it would take a foolhardy dictator even to consider such when he knows that his thoughts are being monitored ... and that assassination is so much harder to stop than a rocket bomb. He is bound to remember that Tchaka the Ruthless was killed by one of his own bodyguard.

But the less obvious effect has been to take "secrecy" wraps off scientific research. It is hard to recall that there was once a time when scientific facts could not be freely published, just as it is hard to believe that our grandfathers used to wear things called "swimming suits" - secrecy in science and swimming with clothes on are almost equally preposterous to the modern mind. Yet clothing never hampered a swimmer as much as "classification" hampered science. Most happily, controlled telepathy made secrecy first futile, then obsolete.(3)

But possibly the most important discovery we have made about ourselves is that Man is a Wild Animal. He cannot be tamed and remain Man; his genius is bound up in the very qualities which make him wild. With this self - knowledge, bleak, stern, and proud, goes the last hope of permanent peace on Earth; it makes world government unlikely and certainly unstable. Despite the fact that we are (as always) in a condition of marginal starvation, this fact makes all measures of population control futile - other than the ancient, grisly Four Horsemen, and even they are not effective; we finished World War III with a hundred million more people than when we started.

Not even the H - bomb could change our inner nature. We have learned most bloodily that the H - bomb does nothing that the stone axe did not do - and neither weapon could tame us. Man can be chained but he cannot be domesticated, and eventually he always breaks his chains.

Nor can we be "improved" by genetic breeding; it is not in our nature to accept it. Someday we may be conquered by super beings from elsewhere, then bred according to their notions - and become dogs, rather than wolves. (I'm betting that we will put up a fight!)

But, left to our own resources, improvements in our breed must come the hard way, through survival and we will still remain wild animals.(4)

But we have barely begun to study ourselves. Now that mankind has finally learned to read and write what can we expect him to accomplish?

We have no idea today of how self - awareness is linked to protoplasm. Now that we know that the ego survives the body we should make progress on this mystery.

Personal survival necessitates Cosmic Purpose as a "least hypothesis" for the universe. Scientists are tending to take teleology away from theologians and philosophers and give it a shaking. But concrete results this century seem unlikely. As of now, we still don't know why we are here or what we are supposed to do - but for the first time in history it is scientifically probable that the final answers are not null answers. It will be interesting indeed if one of the religious faiths turns out to be correct to nine decimals.

Since ESP talents seem to be independent of space-time it is theoretically possible that we may achieve a mental form of time travel. This is allowable under the mathematics being developed to describe mind phenomena. If so, we may eventually establish history, and even prophecy, as exact sciences.

On the physical side we can be certain that the speed - of - light barrier will be cracked this century. This makes it statistically likely that we will soon encounter races equal or superior to ourselves. This should be the most significant happening to mankind since the discovery of fire. It may degrade or destroy us, it may improve us; it cannot leave us unchanged.

On the mundane side we can expect a population of five billion by the middle of this century. Emigration to other planets will not affect the total here.

Scientific facts will continue to be discovered much faster than they can be classified and cross - referenced, but we cannot expect any accompanying increase in human intelligence. No doubt the few remaining illiterates will continue to be employed in the subscription departments of periodicals; the same bigmouths who now complain about rocket service to Luna (but who can't thread a needle themselves) will in 2050 be complaining about service to the stars (and they still won't be able to thread a needle).

Unquestionably the Twentieth Century will be referred to as the "Good Old Days," we will continue to view with alarm the antics of the younger generation, and we probably will still be after a cure for the common cold.

Notes : 1980

1. He's still a freak but he's all too common. There is a special circle in Hell for the "Educators" who decided that the Three R's really weren't all that important. Concerning our public schools today: Never have so many been paid so much for so little. I thank whatever gods there be that I went to school so many years ago that I had no choice but to be tightly disciplined in classes in which the teachers did not hesitate to fail and to punish.

My first - grade class had 63 kids in it, one teacher, no assistant. Before the end of the second semester all 63 could read.

2. Many people seem to feel that the "Bridey Murphy" case has been invalidated. Maybe so, maybe not - the investigative reporter who went to Ireland had no special qualifications and the "disproof' came from TIME magazine. TIME magazine probably publishes many facts

but since its founding in the early 1920'sIhave been on the spot eight or nine times when something that wound up as a news story in TIME happened. Not once - not once - did the TIME magazine story match what I saw and heard.

I have the "Bridey Murphy" recording and Bernstein's book about it. I am not an expert witness... but I found the recording highly interesting. To me it sounded like what it purported to be: regression under hypnosis to memory of a former existence. Some years later I learned from an ethical hypnotherapist (i.e., he accepted patients only by referrals from M.D.'s, his own doctorate being in psychology) that regression to what seemed to be former lives was a commonplace among patients of hypnotherapists - they discussed it among themselves but never published because they were bound by much the same rule as physicians and priests taking confession.

I have no data to offer of my own. I decided many years back that I was too busy with this life to fret about what happens afterwards. Long before 2001Iwill know... or I will know nothing whatever because my universe has ceased to exist.

3. Anyone today who simply brushes off ESP phenomena as being ridiculous is either pigheaded or ignorant. But I do not expect controlled telepathy by 2001; that is sheer fiction, intended to permit me to get in that bit about Tchaka, et al.

4. I lifted this "Man is a wild animal" thesis bodily from Charles Galton Darwin (grandson of the author of THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES) in his book THE NEXT MILLION YEARS, Doubleday, 1953. lam simply giving credit; I shan't elaborate here. But THE NEXT MILLION YEARS is a follow - on to THE ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES and is, in my opinion, one of most important works of this century. It has not been a popular book - but I seem to recall that his grandfather's seminal work wasn't too popular, either.



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One of the coolest things ever:

In 1950 Heinlein made a bunch of predictions for the year 2000 (50 years away), he then adds notes and updates to his predictions in 1965. And then again in 1980. It is really something of an absolute time-capsule!

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Heinlein was in the Soviet Union when the U-2 plane collapsed. His approach to the events are baffling, but still quite a good read.

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Considered Heinlein's greatest compendium. Spanning 1939-1980. Took me a month to go through the 600 pages.

[Nagrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got my start on Heinlein when I was about ten years old, and sometime between ten and fourteen I picked up EU and then shelved it because the essays were not the action adventure and daring-do of Glory Road, or Tunnel in the Sky. The politics, philosophy etc. were lost on me at the time. This time around things are different.
I've read some of the previous reviews of this work, and am frankly disappointed that people who claim to be Heinlein fans, to appreciate Heinlein, would be turned off by this collection. Heinlein was always more than the stories. He often made very little attempt to veil the personal philosophy and politics he put into his works, so it strikes me that any "Heinlein fan" who is turned off by this collection isn't, actually, a Heinlein fan as much as a fan of a good story (not that there is anything wrong with that... it just sells the old man a bit short).
Not to say that RAH's politics are entirely my own. In this day and age I disagree with his ideas on nuclear policy greatly, however I understand where he was coming from. In a time when the threat of nuclear attack was a constant fact of life, and when one of the few reliable measures to prevent it was, simply, a matched set of H-Bombs on both sides that quietly said "No one will win, lets not do this at all", RAH was right.
He is still right today about patriotism and serving ones country in some capacity. The nation, the tribe, needs the service and support of its members to continue, there is no way around this no matter how many rationalizations can be offered up by the self-serving and the selfish.

Expanded Universe is a fantastic collection of fiction and non-fiction that gives the reader not only an insight into the writer, but a lot to think about. It gives the intelligent reader a window into the past, the reality, fears and hopes of a different time, and yet a handle on the unchanging facts and realities of the human condition. I have not enjoyed anything in my life as much as I enjoyed a quiet late afternoon sitting on my front porch smoking a cigar and reading from Expanded Universe.
Give the poltroons their due consideration and then buy a copy anyway - If you are an intelligent human you should be able to find something in the works that will delight, surprise, intrigue and perhaps even educate you.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a short story I had in my collection, so I read it. It's about local politics, presumably sometime in the 50s. Definitely not in any way science fiction, though the characters and dialogue were still pretty standard Heinlein. It was interesting to see how grassroots politics were at that time (maybe they still are in some places?) as well as interesting to see the idea of politics that were essentially uncorrupted in their goals (though a bit corrupted in their methods). Overall, an interesting short little read, but without much weight.

[The W · Rating 3 out of 5]

W Rating : B

This was a fun book. This was Heinlein's Rivan Codex. Many non sci fi stories and papers Heinlein has written with his own personal comments throughout. Read if you like Heinlein and/or getting author jokes.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like Time Enough for Love, I gathered many quotes from this book. It cemented for me that Heinlein was more futurist than science-fiction author, simply a futurist whose outlet was fictional more than directly predictional.

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of early stories and articles and commentaries on them. Shows the development of Heinlein as a writer.

[Scott Golden · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a barrel-scraping exercise. Some of it is interesting; other items, not so much.

[Forked Radish]

Review and rating only for: “Who are the Heirs of Patrick Henry?”

[Pedro L. Fragoso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometime, sooner rather than later, I really really need to start rereading the novels... meanwhile, I'm going through the odds and ends of the work, the ancillary pieces, as it were.

My beef with this anthology is that it is dated in a very cruel way. Not dated how one may assume going in. It is known that nothing ages like the future, but it is not that. Heinlein was prescient in so many fundamental concepts and visions that most of what is dated, from either technological or societal POVs, is not so relevant and it is actually interesting and compelling.

A few examples of him getting things right.

"I have made some successful predictions. One is “The Crazy Years.” (Take a look out your window. Or at your morning paper.) Another is the water bed. Some joker tried to patent the water bed to shut out competition, and discovered that he could not because it was in the public domain, having been described in detail in Stranger in a Strange Land."

"GLOOM, WOE, AND DISASTER—There are increasing pathological trends in our culture that show us headed down the chute to self-destruction."

"Our public schools no longer give good value. We remain strong in science and engineering but even students in those subjects are handicapped by failures of our primary and secondary schools and by cutback in funding of research both public and private. Our great decline in education is alone enough to destroy this country … but I offer no solutions because the only solutions I think would work are so drastic as to be incredible."

"Our National Debt will never be paid. We are beyond the point of no return. Inflation will continue and get worse … and the elderly on fixed incomes and the young adults trying to start families will continue to bear the brunt."

But things do get problematical. Take for instance: "We could still keep from going utterly bankrupt by going back on some hard standard (gold, silver, uranium, mercury, bushels of wheat—something). But it would not be easy, it would not be popular; it would mean hard times for everyone while we recovered from an almighty hangover. Do you think a Congress and a President can be elected on any such platform? One chink in the armor of any democracy is that, when the Plebs discover that they can vote themselves Bread & Circuses, they usually do … right up to the day there is neither bread nor circuses. At that point they often start lynching the senators, congressmen, bankers, tax collectors, Jews, grocers, foreigners, any minority—take your choice. For they know that they didn’t do it. The citizen is sovereign until it comes to accepting blame for his sovereign acts—then he demands a scapegoat."

Of course, the problem is not that people vote themselves bread & circuses. The problem is that not so much bread and a whole lot of circuses is served the people so that the people is anesthetized while the government, instead of promoting the real economy and providing for the voters, serves the industrial military complex with trillions of dollars and the people with recurrent national humiliations. Afghanistan being the current case in point.

Heinlein wrote it better in his This I Believe: "I believe in—I am proud to belong to—the United States. Despite shortcomings from lynchings to bad faith in high places, our nation has had the most decent and kindly internal practices and foreign policies to be found anywhere in history." There is a lot of this monumental misjudgement, let's be nice and call it that, in the texts here in... and this is what makes a substantial chunk of this selection irremediably, cruelly, cringely dated.

Not that Heinlein wasn't somewhat afraid that things could go terribly wrong: "We have a lot of healthy, intelligent people with a wide spread of useful skills, trades, and professions. We have a wonderful big country not yet too crowded and still wealthy in real wealth—oh, bankrupt on paper but that can always be corrected with real wealth, will, and work. Actually it’s easier to be happy and get rich than it is to go down the chute. This country has so much going for it that it takes a lot of work combined with wrong-headed stubbornness to ruin this country. It’s not easy."

No, master, easy it was not, granted, but they ultimately did manage to completely FUBAR it...

[Chris Presta-Valachovic · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has not aged well, at all.

Reading it now, as an adult of 53, Heinlein's essays & ideas range from interesting (the two essays on Russia/the Soviet Union) to holy-shit-the-man-was-an-asshole (the last "story", The Good Days Ahead.)

That last one is guaranteed to anger any compassionate person, especially those living today, in today's economy & hate-filled society. A Black woman (alert readers will realize she's implied to be Nichelle Nichols, aka "Uhura" of the original Star Trek) is elected Vice-President, becoming President 10 days into the term when the former Pres dies in a crash. New Pres proceeds to turn the entire country around with hardline old-school conservative tactics & patriotism -- tactics that have long been proven unrealistic, unworkable, & inhuman:

a) forcing all applicants to swear a pauper's oath before they can receive any aid. (pauper's oath: you swear in court that you don't have more than $20 in goods & earnings. Seriously.) Heinlein had the vile, wrong idea that the so-called poor are just lazy -- never mind that most folks on aid work more than 40 hours a week just to make basic ends meet. But that argument is beyond the scope of a review.

b) declares all racial & minority rights-activists to be un-American & the equivalent of the KKK. I can sort-of see where he's coming from with this one (we're all the human race, not a black race, not a white race, etc etc etc); it's one of those ideas that sounds good in hypothesis, but fails hard in practice. Unfortunately, Heinlein is coming from his own privileged perspective on this one: because HE never had said problems, therefore said problems must not actually exist. He's got that stupid BS of "they're asking for special privileges!".

No, RAH. No, they're not. Demanding equality under the law & for one's civil rights is not asking for "special".

c) argues for nuclear energy over & over & over -- oh my gosh, don't get rid of nuclear waste! Our descendants might find it useful! He uses the example of petroleum in Rome to back up his argument. Evidently the thought that petroleum products don't poison & kill living beings for thousands of years never occurred to him. RAH died two years after Chernobyl, btw.

Gah. I'm tired. I remember liking this book in high school. I remember arguing in school in the early '80s that Russia relied on us hard for their food supply & weren't about to nuke us -- an idea Heinlein presents among these essays -- & felt vindicated when the Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight. To be fair, RAH has good ideas buried here. You have to really sort thru the outdated crap to get at them, though.

So, take this book with heavy salt grains. It's a product of its time...though I think RAH would be horrified at the Trump admin, too, even moreso than the rest of us.

[Michael Reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is for Heinlein completist. It is a mix of short stories and nonfiction. None of his best stories are here. He includes a nothing special mystery story from when he was trying to get into that market, a short story about a political campaign story which is ok and a story about "Puddin" an overweight teenage girl which is cringe worthy.

Heinlein was convinced that the world would be destroyed by a general nuclear war in the near future. On the first page of the book he says, "the probability (by a formula I have just now derived) that either I or this soi-distant civilization will be extinct by 2000 A.D. approaches 99.2+%".

To be fair, he was right about himself. He died in 1988.

He did a huge amount of research on nuclear weapons. The book is filled with fiction and nonfiction about the nitty gritty technical details of nuclear power. It was more exciting, I suspect, when nuclear power and weapons were new and mysterious things. Now they are just mysterious in a "don't think about it" way.

Heinlein's 1950 and early 60s novels are still fun to read. His later books got claustraph0bic as he got grouchier in his old age. This collection is not a good representation of him.

[vicki_girl]

Foreword - Only one version
Life-Line - serial(x), collected, teleplay
Successful Operation - Only one version
Blowups Happen - serial(x), updated
Solution Unsatisfactory - Only one version
The Last Days of the United States - Only one version
How to Be a Survivor - Only one version
Pie from the Sky - Only one version
They Do It With Mirrors - serial, collected(x)
Free Men - Only one version
No Bands Playing, No Flags Flying— - Only one version
A Bathroom of Her Own - Only one version
On the Slopes of Vesuvius - Only one version
Nothing Ever Happens on the Moon - Only one version
Pandora's Box / Where To? - 1950, 1965, 1980(x)
Cliff and the Calories - Only one version
Ray Guns and Rocket Ships - Only one version
The Third Millennium Opens - Only one version
Who Are the Heirs of Patrick Henry? - Only one version
"Pravda" Means "Truth" - Only one version
Inside Intourist - Only one version
Seachlight - Only one version
The Pragmatics of Patriotism - Only one version
Paul Dirac, Antimatter, and You - Only one version
Larger Than Life - Only one version
Spinoff - Only one version
The Happy Days Ahead - Only one version

[Mcf1nder_sk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Science fiction may not be my genre of choice, but Robert Heinlein will always be one author whose works I'll always be willing to delve into. Stranger In a Strange Land, The Cat Who Walks Through Walks, the Future History series (which I'm reading in its entirety this summer), these are some of the greatest fiction ever written, regardless of genre. In Expanded Universe, Heinlein brings together many various types of stories, from his first fictional work (Life Line) through the years to several nonfiction stories, mist notably his works about (and against) atomic weapons. One of the most appealing features of this compilation is the author's forewords and afterwords about each story. He has not really edited some of his older works, such as his prognostications, written as early as 1950, but he has added updates to his success rates, written with such self-deprecating humor that even the non fiction stories were enjoyable.
For fans of Heinlein, this is one book that should definitely be in your library.

[Steven Cooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve enjoyed most of Mr. Heinlein’s work in its longer forms and decided to pick up on this collection of short fiction interspersed with non-fiction articles. The fiction remains some of the best speculation on human interaction with the universe, with interesting plots involving disruptions of status quo and expectations.
The non-fiction as well as many fictional pieces are a product of their times (as all are) and the conservative perspective of the author. That doesn’t make them irrelevant, and sometimes disagreeing with a viewpoint will make you think even better.
Robert A. Heinlein’s bibliography includes 32 novels, 59 short stories and 16 collections published during his life. I haven’t read them all, but a collection like this one is a good place to start.

[James]

For the Millions of Heinlein Fans-a Guided Tour Through the Thoughts and Insights of "One of the Most Influential Writers in American Literature" (The New York Times Book Review).The Wit and Wisdom of Robert A. Heinlein, author of multiple New York Times best sellers, on subjects ranging form Crime and Punishment to the Love life of the American Teenager; from Nuclear Power to the Pragmatics of Patriotism; from Prophecy to Destiny; from Geopolitic to Post-Holocaust America; fro the Nature of Courage to the Nature of Reality; it's all here and it's all great-straight from the mind of the finest science fiction writer of them all. But beware: after reading it, you too will occupy an Expanded Universe!

[Owen Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This short story compilation includes a mix of fiction and nonfiction. Most of it is really outdated, especially the warnings and prophecies that didn't come true. Some parts are interesting, and I learned a few things, but I skipped a lot of pages because it just wasn't compelling enough. Heinlein was scared to death of atomic weapons and he repeatedly tried to warn the public about the high likelihood of a nuclear apocalypse. It's too bad Heinlein didn't live another couple of decades because then he could have witnessed what we see today: Instead of dreading the end of the world, most people seem to be looking forward to the apocalypse, and we wish it would happen sooner than later.

[Cathy Savage · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting a collection of his fiction stories only to find several (the last third of the book) to be non-fiction essays written in response to the conditions of the day. As these are all old news and not of particular interest to me so I skimmed. The fiction stories were good as long as you remembered the era in which they were written. I find that I prefer his full length novels to his short stories. I guess I just like a "meatier" story. None the less I did enjoy the reread. I have many of the stories in other compilations so shall pass this back to the book sale folks.

[Kateblue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing Ever Happens On The Moon is actually a short story originally published in Boy's Life, the Boy Scout magazine. It can now be found in Heinlein's Expanded Universe #2.

It is rare for me to rate Heinlein this low, but this story was not so much a story as it was an explanation about how various Boy Scout activities might be performed on the moon. It was interesting, but I skimmed many paragraphs because they were too technically detailed. Still, interesting concept and worth reading once.

Merged review:

A short short I found in Expanded Universe Part 1. It strikes me as daydream of WWII-era Americans brought to life.

It was worth reading once, but not very good as compared to other Heinlein. Heinlein even says it was written soon after his first publication, but I cannot determine when exactly it was written as it is not listed with the attributions of the other short stories.

It was pretty obvious what the outcome was going to be. Still, it was OK. 3 1/2 stars.

I hate to grade any Heinlein this low, but really, it's not worth more.

Merged review:

A short story I had been hunting for and found in Expanded Universe Part 1, and apparently not previously published because I can't see it listed with the attributions of the other short stories.

It's short and well-written, but it's a depressing forecast of the post WWII atomic age. Obvious ending. Still worth reading once. 3 1/2 stars. For completists.

I hate to grade any Heinlein this low, but really, it's not worth more.

[Mark White · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection has a few old Heinlein short stories that are difficult to find elsewhere, but many, if you are a fan, you will already have read. Most of it is Heinlein's reminiscing and lecturing. He is a great writer so even this can make entertaining reading but he is becoming in some ways increasingly out of touch. Interesting to see how his opinions have changed over time in a manner seemingly invisible to himself. Very much for the fans.

[Steve LaForest]

I am gradually reading my way through the "wit and wisdom". Unfortunately, the wit and wisdom includes a great deal / overwhelming amount of haranguing about "how things should be". At times, it feels as though some of RAH's opinions might be slightly to the of Attila the hun (apologies to Attila and huns).

I have to take this material in small doses (or toss the whole thing in the recycle bin). Perhaps I'll pull a Kim Stanley Robinson off the shelf to cleanse my (L - R) palate.

[HopeF · Rating 4 out of 5]

Included among the short stories are a large number of polemic essays that are interesting more for the historical perspective than literary enjoyment. Forwards can warn any readers who wish to skip such essays. The short stories "Solution Unsatisfactory" and "Free Men" carry the theme of a large number of the essays. Also, Spinoff was a fun read.

[Craig Beyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little fiction, a little non-fiction…not a typical Heinlein book. It’s a collection of stuff relating to the past and to his projected/guessed-at future (most of which he got wrong: he was much too optimistic!). Some interesting bits, of course, as well as some of his older short fiction I’d never read before.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-reading Heinlein after enjoying Variable Star so much. This one has some great and very memorable short stories, but these days I skip all the political rhetoric. If RAH had been alive when Trump was elected, I'm sure he would have dropped dead in disgust. Still love his short stories though.